Inchworm bad for back?

[Msgt D]

I found NROL at the local bookstore and read it with great interest. Lou and Alwyn's approach seems to make a lot more sense than the traditional weight lifting programs. However, ...

I've been doing the BI program for a couple of weeks preceded by the warm ups suggested in the book. Recently, during a visit to my chiropractor I was telling her about the program and demonstrated the warm ups. When she saw the inchworm she immediately stopped me and suggested I never do it again. According to her, the beginning posture, bent over at the waist with the fingers touching the floor, places a great deal of strain on the lower back and could lead to disk problems. The natural curve of the lower back, which Lou goes to great lengths to point out is important to maintain in many of the exercises to avoid back injury, is quite distorted by this posture and subjects the lower back to injury.

As I had injured my back while on active duty, and it has been a source of problems for me, I have stopped doing that particular warm up. Instead, I do a variation, starting in the forward leaning position (push up) and inch my hands out as far in front of me as possible. (My chiro approves of this.) I then do a couple of stretches my chiropractor showed me for the glutes, hams and calves.

Any comments, thoughts? Anyone else with back problems noticing low back pain?

I look forward to moving on to the FL I program in another week or so.

Thanks,
D

[Aoife]

You should be bending at the hips, not the back. It'll require some good posterior flexibility to actually get hands to touch the ground, and prolly many people bend at the waist and round their backs.
Whether doing it that way (rounded back) is harmful is not something I'd know myself, though I lean toward prolly not for most healthy people if they are unloaded *shrug* but I could be wrong.
I'm guessing you demonstrated it with a rounded back by bending at the waist. If you're unable to perform it all the way, you can basically start at a plank and move up by bending at the hips until you can't anymore and start to round your back, then move back out.

[Neill]

I'm not a fan of the inch worm. I'm rounding my back too, which is a Bad Thing.

I replace it with an opposite arm and leg raise, holding for a few seconds per rep. It's great for working on balance and warming up those little balancing muscles. It's nothing like the inch worm, so it may not be an appropriate replacement, but I like it.

Here's what it looks like, from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slwP3XMDr2Y
I hold my arm and leg raised for longer than what the video shows.