NOVEMBER 2021 THE RIDER /43 Fitness for Riders: Strengthen Your Lower Back to Reduce Back Pain, Improve Aids and Balance


By Dr. Heather Sansom The tips from this


month’s edition are directed to riders with low back pain, and difficulty with co-ordi- nation of their aids. If you’ve been following the Equifitt newsletter, you’ll remember that we focused on upper and mid-back strength earlier


spring. Exercises used in- cluded reverse-fly, back ex- tension variations, and others. This month we move to the lower back. The lower back area of


the rider is one of the weak- est zones because the only skeletal connection between your upper and lower body is in the few inches of your spine. Most of the connec- tion is in the soft tissue of your core muscles, essen- tially around your waist. From the point of view of human movement,


this


arrangement works wonder- fully well for helping you move your torso in almost any direction, quite inde- pendent from your lower body. Otherwise, we would be stiff, and have to turn the whole body whenever we wanted to lean or rotate in- stead. This would be very inconvenient for common tasks (raking comes to mind), and for riding. As we are, we can fol-


low the horse’s hips and shoulders


independently.


For example, your hips can sit on the horse’s back to move the horse’s hips in, on, or off the track, while your shoulders help to direct the horse’s shoulders differ- ently. Neither your horse’s, nor your, shoulders and hips are on the same angles to achieve bend on a circle. If you are in doubt, just get up and walk around in a small circle. To get a smooth cir- cle, you turn your shoulders a little more in the direction of movement. Otherwise, you would walk an octagon. The drawback of this


wonderfully mobile midsec- tion of ours, is that it often experiences more mobility than we want or need it to. For example, a rider’s seat is nudged forward and falls back slightly with each can- ter stride or sitting trot step. When your back and hips are elastic, the pressure and motion


are absorbed


through them. When they are not as elastic, the force moves through them to the lower back, which then ‘folds’ and unfolds to absorb the motion. When that hap-


pens, a rider’s back can experi- ence accumulated or even acute strain. Sometimes, riders ‘put their back out’ (lower back) doing work around the horses,


so the area is already weak, tired, or strained before it has to support you in the ride.


The natural reaction of in the


the body is to stiffen up the ‘abused’ area to try and sup- port you structurally. We ex- perience that as tightness or tension in the lower back. Since horses are very sensi- tive to our tension and seat position, tension in the rider’s back signals a similar response in the horse, result- ing in the ‘vicious circle’: loss of smoothness of move- ment, more jarring in the rider’s back, more pain and stiffness for the rider, less comfort and freedom of movement for the horse. In addition to therapies


and stretching for sore lower backs, riders can address these issues by strengthen- ing the lower back. The in- crease in muscle mass in the area will not cause tension. It will create more stability for those lower back spine segments, reducing the tens- ing reflex and protecting the spine. Additionally,


a


stronger lower back helps the rider coordinate upper and lower body aids, and control weight distribution (weight aids) better. Two exercises that I


like to use with clients for lower back strength come from the Pilates type exer- cise body of knowledge: the v-sit, and the ‘superman’.


V-Sit This exercise


can be modified by lying on your back and raising as much of your torso and leg as you can, while keeping the lower back on the floor; or, by sitting up hug- ging your knees, then slowly lower- ing your back and extending your feet until you feel it is challenging enough to hold the position for 5 seconds with- out feeling strain or pain in the lower back.


© Heather Sansom. Image


originally


published in Com- plete Core Workout for Riders (Sansom) available on the Equifitt books page. The updated ‘Killer Core Workout for Riders’ is available on both the Equifitt


V-Sit


website, and in print copy on Amazon.


‘Supermans’ While


easy, this exercise helps a rider focus on connecting the upper and lower back. The object is not to lift your legs and arms/shoulders as high as you can. The goal is to lift them to a maximum ‘squeeze effort’ with your back muscles without strain- ing your lower back. To do so, you need to simultane- ously engage your abdomi- nals (to protect your lower back) until you almost feel a ‘tug of war’ between the ab- dominals on the front of your torso (that want to keep you from bending your lower back too much), and your back and gluteals that are doing the lifting. After raising your limbs by an inch or so, the goal is to image that your effort is going into connecting your shoulder blades and seat, more so than in lifting limbs toward the ceiling. Some clients I have worked with raise their limbs very little but still get a very good quality contraction of the back muscles. If your lower


back hurts in any way, then you have raised the limbs too high.


deceptively Supermans, side view


© Heather Sansom. Image originally published in Complete Core Workout for Riders (Sansom) available on the Equifitt books page. The updated ‘Killer Core Workout for Riders’ is avail- able on both the Equifitt website, and in print copy on Amazon.


Supermans top view with limb movement for added difficulty


© Heather Sansom. Image originally published in Fit to Ride in Nine Weeks (San- som, Trafalgar Square Books). Available on the Equifitt website and Horse and Rider Books, and online booksellers internationally.


With both of these ex-


ercises, slow movements with longer hold times and fewer repetitions work bet- ter. They also train your brain to hold the area stable without stiffness in your body, which is what you


Superman Side View


need to happen when you are riding. Excessive num- bers of repetitions or speedy completion might replicate the repetitive straining that the rider’s seat is already experiencing in the saddle. I like to recommend about 6-10 repetitions with a 5-10- second ‘hold’ at the peak of the exercise effort. After working your lower back, or as needed between small groups of repetitions, it’s a good idea to stretch. One useful stretch is the ‘baby pose’ from yoga, or simply lying on your back while hugging your knees.


Safe and Happy Training


Superman Top View


© Heather R. Sansom, PhD. www.equifitt.com


Leading Equestrian Fitness since 2007. Fitness & Biomechanics Specialist. Personal fitness. Riding in-


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