Sway Back & Kyphosis

If the small of your back curves in extremely, often creating a shelf below that juts out behind you, like a toddler’s often does, this is LORDOSIS, or SWAY BACK. It is a structural misalignment that must be corrected to prevent and eliminate all manner of body pain including Sciatica, which is the pressing of a nerve in this curved low back and thereby sending shooting pain down a leg.

SWAY BACK is involved in chronic low back pain, and in many leg pain issues, such as tight hamstrings, tight hips, knee pain, and foot problems. As you can see, the body really is all connected, and The Vance Stance® achieves such success by creating lengthening and change all through the body.

At the top of the body, there can be a mirror image of tightness and constriction, an extreme rounding out in the upper back is called KYPHOSIS, or sometimes DOWAGER'S HUMP. (Scoliosis is its own combination of humps and valleys, and has its own category for corrections. See the Scoliosis tab for more.)  It is possible to have one without the other. You could have kyphosis and not much of a sway back, for example, or have a pronounced sway back that does not continue all the way up to profoundly round out your upper back so far as to be called kyphosis, but most people experience some degree of the two.

(Round shoulders could also be put in this grouping, as they so often are part of the picture. See both the Shoulder Pain section, as well as the Frozen & Round Shoulders section for more.)
 
The major connection here is that the spine and back are not more straight. While there are natural curves in the body, including a slight rounding in at the waist, the problem comes when this is too pronounced, and becomes sway back. The same goes for the neck and upper back: a little is good, too much becomes kyphosis, part of round shoulders, tight neck, and forward head. (See the Neck Pain & TMJ section for more.)

The solution is to overhaul your entire body with The Vance Stance. After learning The Stance, the following movements will make it easier to create lengthening and new contraction in the torso, flattening out what has been too compressed and curved. Pain will go, as you learn to lift and lengthen your back.

Some exercises from The Vance Stance book:

• Squat and Reach (page 110-111), which provides length at the small of your back, and a feeling of relief.
• The Hang-Over (page 86-87), which allows your entire spine, from the back of the head to the base of your spine, to learn to open with the weight of your head.
• Up Against the Wall (page 96-97), which teaches your back and waist to flatten and lengthen.
• Leg on Railing (page 112-113), to provide opening all the way from the back of your legs up your back.
• Pelvis Flatten And Arch (page 142-143), which releases and contracts the small of your back, allowing it to then straighten.
• One-Leg Roll-Down (page 146-147), which stretches the back and correctly involves the front.