How Your Feet and Hips Could Be Causing Your Back Pain

Roughly 80% of adults will experience back pain at some point in their life, and chances are you already have. You’ve tried stretching your hamstrings, getting a massage maybe even lying on the hardwood floor contemplating life? More often than not, the issue is stemming from your feet to your hips and then into the low back. I will explain why and give you few exercises to incorporate into your programming.

When our feet are not functioning properly it throws off the entire kinetic chain. Over pronation creates knee valgus which in turn shifts the hip into internal rotation. This is a fancy way of saying when your foot rolls, in your knee collapses inward and your hip rotates. Now when your foot supinates or over arches the opposite effect happens, the knee bows out and the hip rotates. The health of our feet are widely ignored and as these issues work their way up the kinetic chain we start to feel it in the low back.

Your hips and low back work as a team. There is another concept that helps explain why these three components go hand in hand, called biotensegrity. It sounds complicated, but the idea is very simple. Muscles, tendons and bones share tension throughout the entire body. When one area of the body cannot do its job the tension shifts somewhere else. When the feet don’t provide good stability the hips often rotate or shift in ways that end up creating compensation in the glutes, and low back muscles.

First things first, identify the problem. Do you notice your ankle rolling inward, over arching in your foot or a flat foot? All three of these issues can play a crucial roll in how your knees and hips react. Rolling your plantar fascia with a tennis ball, wearing toe spacers and doing ankle mobility exercises can help improve the health of your feet.

Secondly, weak glutes fail to stabilize the pelvis and can sometimes cause lumbar strain or nerve pain. Here are some exercises you most certainly need to incorporate into your programming: Hip thrust on the bench or a basic glute bridge to start, this strengthens the glutes without putting stress on the spine. 90/90 hip rotation, this will improve hip mobility and increase your range of motion. Single leg romanian deadlift, this will improve balance while strengthening the glutes and hamstrings. And single leg calf raises, these will increase ankle stability and mobility.

The stronger the feet, calves and glutes the better overall functioning of your kinetic chain. Train the entire chain from the ground up and your back will probably thank you, preferably by letting you get out of bed without making all those weird noises.

As always, if you have any questions I am always here to help! Feel free to reach out.