Suppose you’re over the age of 35 and have spent years either sitting behind a desk, driving, laboring or otherwise being very physically active. In that case, you might have a condition commonly called Flatback Syndrome.
What is Flatback Syndrome?
Flatback Syndrome is not a syndrome as such. Instead, I prefer to call it flatback posture or the correct medical term, alordosis.
Lumbar Lordosis is the normal inward curvature in the lower spine. “Alordosis” means “absence of lordosis” – the normal curvature isn’t present, and instead, the lower back is “flat.” The pelvis is usually tipped backward (posterior tilt), associated with or causing the normal spinal curve to flatten. This is Flatback Syndrome
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Signs and Symptoms of Flatback Syndrome
- flat lower back curve
- forward head
- round shoulders
- low back pain is often described as ‘aching.’
- groin pain
- leg pain
- spinal stiffness, especially on waking
This list is only a guide. You may have many of the signs and symptoms listed, only a few or none of them. The list is to assist you in recognizing whether you have Flatback Syndrome.
What Causes Flatback Posture?
Incorrect Sitting
If you have spent years sitting incorrectly – sitting on your bottom muscles instead of sitting with your back aligned over your hips – you may have developed chronic muscular imbalances – short, tight abdominals, short, tight hamstrings, and weak hip flexors – pulling the pelvis into a tucked-under position (called posterior pelvis).
Slouch Sitting – copyright Posturo Global Ltd
Disc Degeneration
Incorrect sitting and standing posture, poor nutrition, injuries, athleticism, and manual labor can lead to worn spinal discs and pain in a patient. In addition, the lower spinal discs should be wedged-shaped, which gives the lumbar region a healthy inward curve, known as lumbar lordosis.
Interesting: When people say, ‘I’ve got lordosis in my lumbar spine,’ what they usually mean is that they have hyperlordosis or sway back. The hyper suggests an increase to the normal lumbar curve. We should ideally all have lordosis in our lumbar spine.
If the lumbar curve is exaggerated, it is a hyperlordosis; if it is flat, it’s an alordosis or without a lordosis. So saying you have ‘lumbar lordosis’ is saying you are normal. That always makes me laugh – in a kind-hearted doc sort of way.
When our spinal discs degenerate, they lose their natural wedge shape, causing a reduction in natural lordosis. This may result in a flatback posture. It may also be common to see spinal curvature.
Herniated Disc
A herniated disc is just a severely degenerated disc, where the gelatinous, toothpaste-like material commonly found contained inside the disc has leaked through the outer cartilage rings. This also causes a loss of the natural wedge shape, which leads to a change in the normal lordotic curve.
Chronic Muscular Imbalance
Many muscles responsible for posture and body movement are found in “pairs.” One muscle (or group of muscles) moves a body part in one direction, while the paired muscle moves the same body part in the opposite direction. The two sides of such a pair are said to be “opposers” since the effort of one side opposes – works in the opposite direction to – the other side.
Both sides of a muscle pair’s efforts may also be exerted simultaneously (when sitting or standing relatively still) to provide the tension and support needed to hold a body part steady in a desired balanced position.
Further Resources: Balance Exercise for Beginners
When one of the muscles of a pair becomes stronger than its opposer, we say that the stronger one has become dominant. This is because dominant muscles tend to become short, tight, and over-aroused – or facilitated – neurologically. Conversely, the weaker opposing muscle becomes long and under-aroused or passive.
Although these muscular imbalances are reasonably predictable, individual differences do, of course, exist. Muscle imbalances commonly found in people with flatback posture include:
Dominant Short Muscles
- Abdominals
- Hip flexors
Passive Long Muscles
- Hamstrings
- Gluteals
Because posture and muscular imbalances affect how we move, problems in one area lead to other places. For example, flatback posture often contributes to round shoulders and forward head posture.
Other problems may result from the muscular imbalances found in flatback posture, including:
- Sciatic leg pain (from inflamed, bulging discs)
- Chronic lower back pain
- Acute lower back muscle spasms (often one-sided)
- Scoliosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Deformity
It is not essential to know the exact cause of your flatback syndrome. Still, it suggests some daily posture exercise habit is needed to return mobility and optimal alignment to the spine. Spinal surgery correction or other surgical treatment is not ideal. However, surgery and physical therapy can help you, especially if you have a pinched nerve, neck pain, or other severe pain.
The patient’s objective is to restore good alignment by establishing healthy posture habits and daily routines. Good posture is a habit and one that you can learn to love. It also helps avoid spine surgery or other intrusive treatments for the spine.
After Thought – Best Ergonomic Tip
Fully upright posture (90°) is hard on the discs in your low back, so avoid buying the “perfect ergonomic chair” that keeps you bolt-upright. Research has shown that reclining at a 135° angle is the least damaging to our lumbar discs when seated.
Before you jump and adjust your seat angle, recognize that such a position is impractical for working at a computer. You’d be so far back, you’d be straining to reach the keyboard, and you’d almost certainly increase your forward head position.
It seems that 110-120° is about perfect for reducing any forward head posture that could occur if you incline the seat back any further. Therefore, I favor 120°, with lumbar back support.
In any event, do remember to keep your head back, nicely inline above your shoulders. Please don’t force it back; allow a gentle lengthening to lift your head back into alignment.
Review the chin tuck exercise for forward head posture if you are unsure.
Inclining your seat 5° downward at the front and using armrests can further reduce lumbar disc pressure.
Happy sitting!
