Back bending when you have been told you will never be able to extend your spine
Back bending when you have been told you will never be able to extend your spine.. so this particular story began about 15 years ago when I was diagnosed with Scheurmann’s disease, sounds scary, ye!! Well first of all let me tell you what it is..
Scheuermann’s is a rounding of the thoracic spine that arises from disturbances in the normal growth and development of the spinal column during adolescence. This causes wedging of vertebrae and irregularities of the growth plates and discs between successive vertebrae (see pic below). The condition is often painful and is more common in males than females. It is often painful and can cause a significant deformity of the spine also known as roundback.
When this label was put on me, I was also told I would never extend my spine and rotation would be an issue .. big words !! For years I avoided back bending for this reason.. labels are dangerous things!! It is only recently, since I joined the wonderful Movement Studio in Terenure.. check them out (www.themovementstudio.ie) that I have really started exploring back bending again , I am very competitive by nature and don’t like when I can’t do something, some people would call that stubborn! Ok I’m not going to lie, I definitely have limitations but I can back bend. My goal is full bridge pose demonstrated beautifully my Lily below than trains in my strength and mobility program for athletes .
I started training about a month ago from the feet up. I found working on loaded big toe dorsiflexion and supination mechanics of the foot (https://www.instagram.com/tv/CL9P9frnZif/?igshid=1iht3dh3cv7mz ) helped to unlock some blockages further upstream for me, especially in the quads that I wasn’t able to access from the couch stretch.. anyone that trains this will know what that is. I also found some amazing awareness through movement lessons from the feldenkrais method to be super helpful and hanging out in the position in pic below
Although I know it will be a slow journey that requires patience, I am fully confident that full bridge for me is achievable even with my label.. watch this space!!