Start your day with a Roll

Many patients come into the clinic with pain and twinges because the night before they, "slept funny". It could be from a sleeping position held all night long or their pillow being too large or small but more often than not, low back pain patients complain that it was as soon as they got out of bed. This article is on how rolls can help prevent injury to your back... not bread rolls or drum rolls, but log rolls.

Log rolling is a balancing act that tree cutters use to stay on top of floating logs as they travel down a body of water. The skill is in knowing what direction you have to walk to keep the free floating log from knocking you into the water. In the same way, a “log roll” maneuver is rotating like a log while keeping the spine in a neutral position. The other way people typically get out of bed is by using the abs to do a flat legged sit up. A regular sit up/crunch puts a lot of force on the muscles and discs that sit between the vertebrae. A flat legged sit up on a mattress adds even more pressure as you have to contract the muscles harder to get the same amount of flexion. A study from Matt Wallden in 2009 explained that flexion motions not under extra weight still cause a load shift through the spine from the posterior elements of the spine to almost 100% on the discs (1). This causes an incredible amount of force on the discs of the lumbar spine which increases the risk of herniating one of the nucleus pulposus (a jelly-like substance between each of the discs) and causing nerve impingement.

Log rolling in bed is easy once you get the pattern down. All one has to do is be near the side of the bed, roll with their back and legs at the same time to get on to their side, and push up with the arms while swinging the weight of the legs off the side of the bed. The counter balance motion of the legs falling down and the arms pushing up keeps the spine in a straightened position and reduces tension from the muscles of the low back.

If we could all rise from our beds like Dracula rises from his coffin, our spinal forces would be amazing. In the real world though, the best way to prevent injury and reduce the amount of tension through the discs and tissues of the low back is to roll, and push, and swing.

Happy rolling, happy backs,

Dr. Cole Maranger DC

Wallden, M. 2009. The neutral spine principle. Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies. Retrieved from: https://www.bodyworkmovementtherapies.com/article/S1360-8592(09)00090-4/fulltext.