by Long Van, D.C.
Lower Crossed Syndrome is one of the many causes of low back pain, which affects 8 of 10 people in the U.S. Lower Crossed Syndrome is caused mostly by incorrect body posture.
Body posture is an absolute necessity in keeping your posture erect and aligned. Imbalanced muscles will cause the body and joints to be out of position. Think about the game tug-and-war. That is what your body goes through each day. One or a group of muscles will always try to overpower the other and this will set your body alignment off. In order to stop this, you have to balance your muscles’ strength. In this game, there should not be any winner or loser but a balance of power.
In an earlier article, I wrote about Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS), a disease that affects the upper half of the human body. This article focuses on the disease affecting the lower half of the body mostly as a result of injury to the lower back, pelvis, and hips, and a sedentary lifestyle—the Lower Cross Syndrome.
What is Lower Cross Syndrome (LCS)?
First defined by Czech physician Vladimir Janda, Dr. Janda noticed that while “the front of the hip (hip flexor muscles) was very tight in many of his patients, and that their antagonist muscles (the hip extensors) were elongated and weak.” 1 Apparently, when one muscle is activated, its opposite muscle is inhibited. This neurological phenomenon is called reciprocal inhibition.
Lower Cross Syndrome can affect people of any age, occupation, and gender. However, it is common among people who sit at work or at home for long periods of time, and for those who have poor posture.
What causes LCS?
When your lifestyle is sedentary (e.g. sitting all the time), the front of your hips begins to tighten, causing your backside to weaken and elongate. This creates a muscle imbalance leading to movement dysfunctions. These imbalances and movement dysfunctions may have direct effect on joint surfaces, thus potentially leading to joint degeneration.2
Do you have LCS?
If you are noticing the following changes in your body posture, along with chronic low back pain, you may be suffering from LCS3:
• Increased curving of your lower back (Lordosis)
• Protruding abdomen
• Anterior pelvic tilt (flexed hips)
• A flattened backside
Like Upper Cross Syndrome, the following are the common health issues you might face if you have Lower Cross Syndrome3
• Trigger Points and Fibromyalgia
• Ache or burning in the shoulders
• Pins and needles in the arms and hands
• Respiratory problems such as Asthma
• Emotional and psychological conditions such as depression
• Migraines and tension headaches
• Digestive disturbances
• Kidney and menstrual dysfunctions
• Allergies and weak immune system
What can be done about it?
According to the American Chiropractic Association, “the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality) recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. And it recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults.4
The keyword in treating lower cross syndrome is balance: meaning to balance the opposing muscle groups by stretching the red muscle groups and strengthening the blue muscle groups. However, stretching all muscle groups is important for enhancing circulation, and helps with people who may have “some degree of weakness and contracture in many muscle groups.”6
Treatment, therefore, involves the following7:
• Strengthening the gluteal muscles
• Strengthening the abdominal muscles
• Strengthening the hamstrings
• Stretching the hip flexor muscles
• Stretching the quadriceps muscles (front of the thigh)
• Stretching the calf muscles
• Stretching the low back muscles
There are also exercises that help with correcting posture and muscle imbalances such as planking and hip flexor stretches.
And here are a few lifestyle changes:
1. If your job requires you to be seated for longer periods of time, make sure to stand up, stretch, and walk around after every 30 minutes or so.
2. Be physically active—walk for 15-30 minutes everyday, dance, get into sports.
Footnotes:
1 Synergy Health & Wellbeing Centre: Upper Cross and Lower Cross Syndromes; last accessed 4/8/2018
2 The Janda Approach to Chronic Pain Syndromes: Janda Syndromes; last accessed 4/8/2018
3 Fletcher Chiropractic: Why Do I Have Low Back Pain? – Lower Crossed Syndrome; last accessed 4/8/2018
4 Synergy Health & Wellbeing Centre: Upper Cross and Lower Cross Syndromes; last accessed 4/8/2018
5 American Chiropractic Association: Back Pain Facts and Statistics; last accessed 4/8/2018
6 Synergy Health & Wellbeing Centre: Upper Cross and Lower Cross Syndromes; last accessed 4/8/2018
7 Synergy Health & Wellbeing Centre: Upper Cross and Lower Cross Syndromes; last accessed 4/8/2018
Long Van, D.C. joined the team at Absolute Injury and Pain Physicians in 2008. He has experience in helping the human body function properly through the natural approach, and enjoys reading up on new information concerning medical conditions and associated treatments available.