Back fusions are the opposite of stretching

This is not medical advice.

This article is about a line of reasoning that has been floating in my head for the last 5 years.

Most of the health care industry advises people to “stretch” their back to decrease back pain. The word “stretches” is used by the patient’s I see to describe almost any exercise.

But their is a big difference between “stretching” and “strengthening” or “stabilization.”

“Stretching” is when you are elongating tissue. “Strengthening” can involve some lengthening of tissue, however mostly involves contracting muscle fibers.

Sometimes we need to stretch to help people in rehab, especially after a surgery, where scar tissue starts to limit range of motion.

Some stretches cause athletic injuries

Back fusions

In the case of the back, strengthening or stabilization might be the preferred focus. In almost any case involving back pain, their is an issue with spinal alignment. In very oversimplified terms, the vertebrae are like blocks that sit on top of each other, and nerves exit in between.

Usually when people have back pain it’s because of poor spinal alignment pushing on a nerve, causing pain.

Sometimes surgeons will suggest a back fusion to decrease these issues. They go in with metal hardware and fuse the vertebrae in an ideal alignment.

If this is one of the preferred methods of increasing stability, then why does most of the industry advocate stretching and moving these structures apart?

Individuals

We all have unique back postures. There are times when a stretch will decrease someone’s symptoms, however that is unique to that particular case.

When you see a fitness guru on the internet claim to have the best back stretch, it’s going to work more than 50% of the time. People will praise the guy at decreasing their symptoms. However, there are always going to be cases where their back should not have been stretched into that direction.

Each spinal curve is unique, and why you should know yours

Surgery

I am not advocating that people have a back fusion surgery. Rates of success are not great. I am also not saying to never have one. I recently saw a back fusion patient who is now pain free after 30 years.

Core muscle strengthening, or stabilization exercises, might help to decrease someone’s back pain. The increase in muscle tone can help to improve spinal alignment, just like a fusion.

Stretching is not the same.

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