Therapy of the hollow back
The therapy of a hollow back depends on the respective cause. The most common cause is a muscular imbalance, which is caused by lack of exercise and incorrect posture. At the beginning of the hollow back sufficient movement and the correct posture can already lead to a sufficient improvement.
The correct sitting posture is particularly important, and here so-called “dynamic sitting” is recommended. This means that the upper body is kept straight and often changes between a forward leaning, an upright and a reclined sitting position. This stimulates the blood circulation, reduces muscle fatigue and relieves the intervertebral discs.
Special ergonomic seating furniture can also be helpful. In general, care should always be taken to regularly interrupt sitting by standing and walking. Due to the close connection between stress and tense muscles, learning relaxation techniques can also contribute to improvement.
It is important, as soon as the hollow back is recognized, to counteract this. The faster a therapy is carried out, the higher are the chances that no complaints occur, or that the symptoms that have occurred improve and that no secondary diseases develop. The further therapy of a hollow back should be carried out under professional guidance in order not to aggravate it by doing the wrong exercises.In special back training courses, offered for example by physiotherapists, fitness studios or health insurance companies, the affected person learns exercises to strengthen and stretch the muscles.
These exercises should also be performed regularly at home. It is important that short, frequent, preferably daily, units are better than rare, but long exercise units, 5-10 minutes per day are already sufficient. This regular training can significantly improve the symptoms and thus lead to an increased quality of life for those affected.
Since the hollow back is the result of a muscular imbalance, it is also important to ensure that the muscles are not subjected to one-sided strain. This means that even when doing the exercises at home, care should always be taken to train the various muscle groups and not, for example, only the back muscles. Certain sports, such as tennis or squash, tend to train the muscles in a one-sided way, so that you move, which is helpful in any case, but for the sake of your back, an additional balancing training is recommended.
In principle, a hollow back can be healed by certain exercises or other orthopedic therapy measures. The corresponding therapy plan depends on the severity of the hollow back and the age of the patient and should be prepared in advance by an orthopedic surgeon. In the initial stages, it is often sufficient to move more, to consciously maintain a healthy posture when sitting and to stretch the shortened muscles again by means of stretching exercises.
For this purpose, other muscle groups that counteract hollow back formation should be strengthened. These muscles include the lower abdominal muscles, the gluteal muscles and the rear thigh muscles. However, to learn correctly performed stretching exercises, appointments with a physiotherapist or back school should be made, as the complaints can be aggravated by incorrect exercises/incorrect performance of the correct exercises.
In more severe cases (such as the hollow back as a sign of chronic spondylolisthesis), the original shape of the S-shape of the spine can be restored by surgery or an orthopedic corset. Simple, uncomplicated hyperlordoses can generally be corrected excellently through exercises and training. It is important to know that it is not the hollow back or the spine itself that is being trained, but rather the muscles that may have been neglected, and that this training will change the posture.
This change in posture in turn leads to the disappearance of the hollow back. In order to correct a hollow back, extensive training of the abdominal and back muscles is just as essential as the use of the gluteal muscles. The lower abdominal muscles are especially important.
You should also strengthen your back with a few exercises. For example, you can lift your upper body and arms in the prone position as if you were “flying“.
- Reverse Chrunches: With the upper body fixed, the legs are moved up and down from the floor at a 90 degree angle.
How a Reverse Chrunch works, you can find on our page: Reverse crunch
- The scissors: For this, one crosses the stretched, lifted legs alternately while lying on the back. Also the purely static holding of the stretched legs just above the floor from a supine position puts maximum strain on the lower abdominal muscles.
- The most recommended exercise, however, is the simple forearm support, the Plank: when performed correctly, this exercise trains the entire torso and improves general body tension.
But also standing upright the straight back direction ground to lower and this position only from the strength of the lower back to hold, demands the body back. Trainees know this exercise in combination with additional weights as “Dead Lift” or “Cross Lift”.
In the beginning, however, all exercises should always be performed without additional weight or with only little weight. The number of repetitions can also be lower, especially at the beginning. It is important that the body of the person concerned first learns the new movement sequences safely and performs them correctly.
The perfect technique is crucial! It is also recommended to stretch the hip flexor (M. iliopsoas) thoroughly. It is often the cause of pain in the back area due to tension or shortening.
Especially people who sit at a desk all day long often neglect these muscles and risk their atrophy.To correct a hollow back, an individual training plan should be drawn up by an experienced trainer or physiotherapist. The latter should also take the time to instruct all exercises and correct the user. Despite optimal instruction, one cannot expect that a hollow back that may have existed for years will disappear immediately and permanently within one training session.
The correction of a hollow back with the help of specific exercises is a long process that requires a lot of patience and regular training. You can find many more exercises against the hollow back on our partner site: MedOn – Exercises against a hollow backIn certain, very special cases, surgical correction of a hollow back is also possible and advisable. These are mainly postural deformities that are due to other, pre-existing diseases of the spine.
For example, surgery may be advisable for patients with very pronounced scoliosis or less frequent changes as part of ankylosing spondylitis. However, affected patients are usually aware of their disease and are already under medical treatment. Even for extreme forms of “normal” hyperlordosis, there are some surgical techniques in circulation, but what they have in common is that they are only rarely used and cannot show absolute success rates. Unfortunately, only a few patients benefit from these procedures. For patients with uncomplicated hollow back, who are otherwise healthy, surgical correction of the hollow back is not a solution.
