Is Spinal Flexion Really Causing Low Back Pain? | The Truth About Bending Your Back

Is spinal flexion really causing low back pain? | The truth about bending your back

Tl:dr Is bending bad for my back?

Spinal flexion (bending forward) on its own isn’t inherently harmful.

The risk of low back pain flares when flexion is combined with heavy loads, high repetition, or a history of back pain. If flexion triggers your pain, it’s helpful to minimize it and modify posture or movement.

Individual assessment is key to understanding your limits and moving safely.

If you’ve ever been told that bending your spine is inherently bad for your back, it’s time to set the record straight. In the tutorial above, I broke down what spine flexion really does, when it matters, and how it relates to low back pain. All based on current research and expert guidance.

Spine flexion on its own isn’t the problem

There’s a lot of controversy around spine flexion. Bending your spine forward naturally changes how the spine and surrounding tissues are loaded, but the good news is that flexion alone does not present a high risk.

That means sitting in a chair for a period of time with a slightly rounded back, or slouching during your car journey or Netflix binge is not inherently dangerous.

Your spine is designed to bend and flex, in fact, even lifting something with a flexed back is not automatically harmful.

When is spine flexion risky for your lower back?

The danger appears when spine flexion is combined with:

• High load, i.e. lifting heavy objects
• High repetition, i.e. repeated bending or lifting over a longer period of time
• Or both

Sitting or bending for prolonged periods, especially under load, can change the dynamics of the tissues in the spine, which may contribute to instability.

In other words, it’s not the flexion itself, it’s the frequency and intensity of the load that increases the risk of low back injury.

What about when low back pain is already present?

Once you experience low back pain, the rules change. Spine flexion that may have been harmless before can unfortunately then become a trigger, meaning you must be more cautious.

If flexion triggers your pain, it may be useful to minimise or modify it, for example adjusting how you sit, changing your movement patterns or reducing the depth or frequency of bending.

Understanding your own triggers is key, and my members area contains mini-courses that go deeper into how to manage flexion-related back pain safely.

Load and repetition matter too

Studies in workers - note these were not athletes - have found:

• 15 lifts per day at over 25kg increased the risk of low back pain.
• Moderate lifting (200 Newton meters – a common unit of torque), 50 times per week, also increased risk

I can’t give you hard-and-fast rules like “lift less than X times,” but this illustrates that every spine has limits. Your own limits will depend on your current back condition, your injury history and your current levels of strength and stability

In principle it is clear, though: it’s not spine flexion alone that causes pain to the lower back. It’s the combination of load, repetition or frequency, rotation and individual factors such as previous injury and general posture.

Understanding these principles is the first step toward moving, lifting, and sitting more safely. But individual assessment will always be the best way to determine the best approach for your own situation.