Do you have good lumbopelvic dissociation?
Lumbopelvic dissociation is defined as your ability to move your hips and your lumbar spine independently from each other - it is often lacking in people who have chronic low back pain. If you have poor control of your hips and they sit in a forwards tilted position, this often overloads through structures in your back called facet joints. If you have the opposite issue, and your hips tend to tilt backwards, this places your lumbar spine a forwards bent position which can increase the pressure on your discs. Therefore, if you have back pain, mastering control of your hips is a really important step on your road to recovery.
A nice way to think about this hip movement is picturing the top of your pelvis as the rim of a bucket. Imagine that the bucket is full of water, and try to tilt your hips forward to tip water out of the front of the bucket without moving your shoulders. Now, return to the starting position, and try to tip water out of the back of the bucket.
If this is something you struggle to do in a standing position, try standing against a wall with your shoulders and bottom touching the wall. Now, try to tilt your hips back (water tipping out of the back of the bucket) to flatten your entire back against the wall, then tilt your hips forward to arch your lower back away from the wall. Practicing 20 repetitions of this exercise regularly can help improve the control through your hips and back. See our video for a demonstration.