Welcome to part 3 of the Squat Project A2G, it's really important that you follow along in order, so if you haven't looked at the pelvis yet, make sure you go back to part 2 and do that first.

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you have done part 2.....Did you get a result with the pelvic test and exercises?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">How is your caveman squat looking?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Hopefully that has got you started towards freeing off your pelvis and kick started your journey towards improving your squat and therefore you entire movement profile. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Remember we are only just starting out and changing your body’s capacity for movement can take time as it adjusts. Maybe the same as it took time to stiffen up! </span>

Now we are going to move up the body slightly and look at the spine and how that can be affecting your squat.

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Would you like to learn how you can assess your own spine too now?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Read on…</span>
<h2>How To Assess For Dysfunction In The Spine</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The integrated system is a fascinating and wonderful series of pulleys, levers, sensors that all interconnect to produce movement and physical control. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We should ALWAYS consider this ‘system’ and how it works holistically in any exercise programme, including the squat project. Therefore I will always remind you of this throughout this project and how we believe this system impacts upon your movement profile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The spine is made up of lots of vertebrae that create a curving structure and is actually extremely robust. The fact many of us are having trouble with back pain is really more shocking than most realise considering the many details within the spine that are designed to protect us. Shock absorbers, strain gauges sensors, lots and lots of muscles and ligaments specifically designed to allow movement but also to limit it and protect the discs and spinal cord.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The spine sits on top of the pelvis and the joint at which they meet is called the sacroiliac joint (SIJ). This is where the sacrum at the lower spine sits into the 2 ilium that makes up the pelvis thus creating a triangular shaped wedge that should allow a certain amount of movement while also creating stability while we walk, move around and of course squat.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What we have hopefully achieved in The Pelvis section is improved capacity for movement around this joint. However, if the spine isn’t functioning well it can also limit or impede what the pelvis can do due to the descending influence. </span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Note: If your pelvis and thoracic spine are both stiff your movement will have to come from somewhere. This could be one big reason why the lower back/spine is the area most commonly linked to injury and discomfort. </span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So squatting down on your haunches (A2G) every day to look in your lower cupboards it won’t matter if your spine flexes somewhat. This is likely to happen anyway as you get lower down due to the femur (thigh bone) hitting the ilium as you get lower down. Squatting with a wider leg position is likely to reduce the effects of this too. But put simply in an average healthy person it doesn't matter if you squat with a flexed spine when there is no load. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In fact your lumbar spine has more capacity for flexion than any other movement. </span>

<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-7665" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ranges-of-movement-in-Lumbar-spine-1024x495.png" alt="" width="1024" height="495" />

<span style="font-weight: 400;">BUT</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you add load like a bar across your shoulders with some plates on either end we now need to take into account the compressive forces on top of the spine.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Squatting with a bit of spinal flexion (breakpoint or butt wink maybe?) with a back bar load means you are now increasing risk. If it is just a few times you will likely get away with it, maybe even weeks or months. However, what MAYBE happening inside you will start to grumble and compensate at some point and wear and tear of a joint can't be replaced. So ideally stop descending into your loaded squat prior to hitting your ‘breakpoint’.</span>
<h3><b>What Is The ‘Break Point’ In The Squat And Where Is Yours?</b></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Stuart McGill refers to what he calls the ‘</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">break point’</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> which he explains is; “..</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">during squatting, there is a loss of the ‘neutral spine’. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This loss of neutral curvature is actually how our spines were designed to move while we were sitting on our haunches when cooking, eating or performing tasks on the floor. In some countries this is still the case and in fact, these natives seem to have a very low incidence of low back pain.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We also know from McGill’s work, and others, that each of the facet joints in the lumbar region allows a range of 5-8mm of flexion/extension and 1-5 mm of lateral flexion. This gives a total of about 45-50 degrees of forward flexion from a fully extended position, that we could call safe at the lumbar spine when squatting without resistance. Once we add some resistance, a barbell, for example, this adds a compressive load onto these facet joints, whose main role is to stop excessive movement of the spine.  This movement restriction protects the discs, and reduces their vulnerability and their risk of wear and tear. Consider a healthy, symmetrically stacked and robust spine and this compressive load is pretty safe, now imagine if you have asymmetry, any mechanical dysfunction or improper technique affecting the spines movement capacity and the risk increases further. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So you can see how actually there is much to consider when performing the squat with any kind of load on the spine if we are to maintain a healthy trunk long term.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When considering the forces imposed upon the spine McGill states that:</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“when a more neutral lordotic posture is adopted, the extensor musculature is responsible for creating the extensor moment and at the same time provides a posterior shear force that supports the anterior shearing action of gravity on the upper body and handheld load……Thus, using muscle to support the moment neutral posture rather than being fully flexed with ligaments supporting the moment greatly reduces shear loading</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">” </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What McGill means is the shear force is the force that causes one vertebra to move forwards (or backwards) in relation to the one above or the below and increases the pressure on the intervertebral discs and facet joints. Therefore minimising these shear forces by correct alignment during squatting is more important.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you struggle to maintain an upright posture when squatting with or without the bar?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Would you like to have a more freely moving spine?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Would you like to learn how to test your own spines function?</span>
<h3><b>Watch this video for lateral flexion, flexion, extension and rotation test...</b></h3>
https://youtu.be/xGmd1gsUhKs

So get to assessing for and improving any dysfunction in the spine and see if you can start taking your squat to great depths.

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-7666" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Range-of-movement-at-each-spinal-segment-817x1024.png" alt="" width="528" height="662" />

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<h2></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Would You Like To Be Able To Reduce Your Clients Risk Of Injury, &amp; Help Them Get Even Better Results?</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Want to be able to help your clients move better, move more freely and get even better results on their programmes?</h3>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://biomechanicseducation.clickfunnels.com/biomechanics-coach-l4-low-back"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5155" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Biomechanics-Coach&#x2122;-Practical-Assessment-1-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" /></a></p>