[Tango-L] tweaking lower back

[Keith]

I'm surprised and yet I'm not surprised that so many people seem to have lower 
back problems attributed to Tango. I'm surprised because of my own personal 
perspective. In my pre-Tango days I had lower back surgery twice for 3 ruptured 
discs - L3, L4 and L5. Even between and after the surgeries I had constant 
niggling back pains despite numerous physio exercises. I still remember my first 
visit to BsAs in 1997 - I wore a back-support every day of the 6-weeks I was 
there. But, since then, touch-wood, I've never had a back pain. To me, Tango 
is like the perfect exercise for anyone with lower back problems. As Huck says - 
posture is the key and, for me, the disassociation between the upper and lower 
body resulting in the constant spiralling of the spine is like perfect therapy for 
the back. Add in the Tango walk - squeezing the thighs and buttocks and I can 
almost feel my lower back being strengthened and stabalized. 

So, then, why am I also not surprised that many people do have lower back 
pains attributed to Tango? It's posture. When I see guys  with their head 
projected forward, shoulders hunched forward or bending forward at the 
waist, I think, my god - what are they doing to their back. IMHO, when 
dancing Tango, the body should be straight but tilted forward, stomach in, 
chest up and out and shoulders down. That's it. Oh yes, chest up and 
shoulders down comes from a contraction of the big, mid-level back muscles 
[trapezius?], which must be engaged.

Keith, HK


 On Thu Mar 13 10:51 , "Huck Kennedy"  sent:

>     And while you yourself are no doubt past that stage, don't forget
>perhaps the biggest lower-back killer of all:  Poor dance posture,
>particularly any inappropriate bending forward at the waist.
>
>Huck