BUTT WINK: IS IT BAD ?

BUTT WINK: IS IT BAD ?
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Many coaches believe that exercises need to be “text-book” like, regardless of load and movement, – but if we take a deeper look at the research, we can see that in reality there’s no such thing as “text-book” movement, at least not as the way it’s interpreted.⁣⁣
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Spinal flexion is generally seen as something that needs to be avoided, but in reality, there’s no research that backs this claim up. ⁣⁣
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Especially in the squats, where people can show different degrees of “butt wink” during full hip flexion, we need to understand that there’s no correlation between spinal flexion and herniations (in living organisms), and asides from that, there’s no correalation between herniation and pain either. ⁣⁣
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Butt wink is slightly modifiable (to a degree) but it’s still unavoidable and it shouldn’t be avoided: as we get better and stronger at performing the squat, the degree of flexion can be reduced, but it’s impossible to completely avoid it. And there’s literally no reason to do so. ⁣⁣
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If you don’t experience any issue with it and you’re able to squat pain-free (with a buttwink), don’t change it. Don’t fix what doesn’t need to be fixed. ⁣⁣
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On the other hand, if you’re experiencing pain in relation to it, don’t be discouraged as nothing structural is getting damaged. In fact, your bones will only gets stronger as a response. Even if you experience pain, try to move within a range of pain that you can tolerate, with the goal of restoring full ROM. ⁣⁣
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References:⁣⁣
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http://www.greglehman.ca/blog/2016/01/31/revisiting-the-spinal-flexion-debate-prepare-for-doubt⁣⁣
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https://harvest.usask.ca/bitstream/handle/10388/8539/EDINGTON-THESIS-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y⁣⁣
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25430861/⁣⁣
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25584950/⁣⁣
https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5339⁣⁣