Lifting without proper mechanics can cause chronic back complaints and often catastrophic injury. What is the proper way to lift a load? Many of you reading this probably just heard a little voice in your head saying, “lift with your legs not with your back!” Though there is value to this age old saying, if it is taken to literally it can cause problems of its own. A large portion of our population today suffers from poor posture and have careers that train our bodies to sit in a deactivated state for long periods of time. Then, when the time comes to perform a lift, our core doesn’t fire as a unit nor does it coordinate properly with our legs, pelvic, and low back muscles to coordinate a strong stable lift, which increases the likelihood of a lift injury. Instead, we default to avoiding force being put on the back and focus on lifting with our legs only. In reality, lifting with your legs does NOT mean taking your back out of the equation. In fact a stable, strength promoting, and effective lift technique utilizes the muscles of the back and coordinates them to fire together with an important group of muscles in your lower body, pelvis and core that together are referred to as the posterior chain muscles. The proper lift technique that is implied by saying “lift with your legs” uses your lower body to generate the lifting force while the knees and hips absorb the weight of the load and the back and entire core stabilize to support the function of the lower extremity muscles. This proper lifting technique can only be done while utilizing the hip hinge. The hip hinge is a body movement that will activate and coordinate the posterior chain muscles and provide strength (not risk) to your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles. You will feel force on your lower back when lifting a load using a proper hip hinge technique but it will be in a strengthening capacity not a weakening capacity.
How do you perform a hip hinge? First, shift your weight into your heels and begin flexing forward over your lower body at your HIPS, NOT your waist. During this movement it is necessary that you keep your chest open and upright and your shoulders back. Then bend your knees slightly while keeping your hips elevated, do NOT squat. You should feel tension in the back of your legs and a stable pulling through your lower back musculature. The hip hinge essentially diverts the movement potential of the leg and glute muscles into the pelvis so that the flexion (forward) and extension (backward) motions that transfer the power for a lift are driven through the hips while keeping the spine stabilized and neutral throughout the entire movement. Remember your back is a muscle group and has the capability of being one of the strongest muscle groups in the body. One of the best ways to prevent back injuries is to train your back and hip musculature. Practicing the hip hinge is an effective way to prevent injuries and develop more stable and coordinated body movements.