The strength of a mother's back
Happy Mother's Day
This is not medical advice
I spent the first 10 years of my career working in the public schools, providing therapy to children with disabilities. I ended up meeting many families who have to care for children, who are in wheelchairs most of their day.
What I witnessed was some extremely strong mothers and caregivers, having to lift loved ones out of the wheelchairs, beds, and bathrooms. Many of the kids are teenagers or young adults, so we’re talking over a hundred pounds in some cases.
When my wife and I had our first baby, I was stunned at how heavy this floppy mass was when you are trying to carry it. Invariably, they drop things on the floor, probably on purpose, as a funny game.
I used to be able to squat over 300 pounds. I was surprised at how hard it was to carry this floppy giggling/crying mess in one hand, and squat down to pick up objects in the other hand, and return to standing. That floppy mass moving around really adds to the effort, moving our base of support. Forget kettlebells.
People also talk about mom arms being so strong. I used to be able to curl 40 pound dumbbells. Then why were my arms burning, carrying this floppy 15 pound mass around? Then put them in a car seat, and carry that thing around for a while. Have a two door car? Try manuevring that thing into the back seat, over the front seat.
Old Wives Tales
There are some old wives tales and science concerning the strength that mothers possess. By the way, when people say women have all their strength in their arms, I don’t think that’s true. Relative to the their legs, the legs are stronger. They tend to be bigger with wider hip mass.
Do you remember the original Incredible Hulk story involved some stories about mothers lifting cars off of their children? The story went that there were some scientists researching claims about extrordinary strength in all people under extremely stressful, life and death situations. There was a story about a car crash, where the child was stuck under a car, and the mother was so distressed, she gained super human strength, and was able to lift the car.
The Science
Is this nonsense? Possibly. I have heard some research in the past where we only contract 20% of the muscle fibers in most situations. The rumor back then was that if we contracted the some total of all fibers, we would tear some tendons. More strength involves an increased percentage of muscle fiber recruitment. Get more fibers to fire, and more force is generated.
You can witness this in powerlifting competitions. Competitors psych themselves up, smack each other, scream, etc. They are trying to contract as many fibers as possible. It seems to work.
Their life, or someone else’s life, doesn’t depend on that lift though. What if a child was trapped? How much force could a mother generate to save their child?
We witness this in the animal kingdom all the time (sorry, another nature analogy).
We know we don’t wanna mess with that situation.
Caregivers
As I mentioned before, I have met many of these families. These mothers are lifting children from many difficult positions. None of them complain about back pain. I think in some cases they have some, but will not complain about it. Partially because it has to be done, and there is no alternative. Their backs are extremely strong, and they are not able to use “proper” lifting technique. The aren’t always able to “lift with their legs". Actually, that almost never happens that way.
So why is it that they don’t have back or disc herniations? Is it all coincidence? Is there a correlation between a stronger back and a healthier back?
These are all anecdotal stories, and unscientific. I am just relaying to you that they are not being treated for back issues, as much as some other, far more relatively benign cases and forces.
Maybe if our backs were stronger, they wouldn’t hurt so much. Ultimately, we are injured when we are not strong enough to overcome forces in our environment.
Sometimes there are mechanical lifts and equipment. However, one consideration is becoming weaker if they rely on them too much. What if that equipment is not always available when needed?
Or is there a hormonal bond or connection with the child that makes mothers stronger?
Lovely acknowledgement of Mums
Thank you, Mike!