After reading an article in the Orange County Register the other day, I was inspired to write this blog post. Usually I have no idea what to write about... But after reading the article I could not resist. Event though I play neutral on our Facebook page, I always have my opinion on what we post or ask questions about. This article that was in the paper had a title called "Torch a quad, save a back".
As soon as I read the title I immediately thought to myself, "Oh man, lets see what this personal trainer out of a $4/month all machine workout facility has to say about low backs." As I continued to read I found myself starting to shake my head from side to side faster and faster until I realized that I looked like a model off of a L'Oreal shampoo commercial. So if you washed away everything the guy says about the exercise and mainly not listen to what he says the reasoning of how the exercise helps low backs, I absolutely have NO problem with having the ability to perform what the guy calls the 'campfire squat'. Having the ability to drop down into a below parallel squat is HUGE. And it is not too important if you are in lumbar flexion (unless you have a history of lumbar disc issues then I recommend staying away from lumbar flexion all together) because it is not a loaded squat. I am absolutely not saying lumbar flexion is ok if it isn't loaded because we know the results of Pr. McGill's work, but Gray Cook talks about this movement in his lectures and says the most important aspect of the 'campfire squat' is that it is NOT loaded. BUT, he (the trainer) mentions nothing on how the pattern is important... What he really wants the reader to take home is how important it is to destroy the quads and this will help your low back pain. 
Good thing we do not live in a quad dominant society (no sarcasm here I promise!)... Because everyone in America needs to build their quads to save their low backs from pain when they do their daily activities. Don't worry about their lack of lumbar stability or their hamstrings driving hip extension due to inhibited glutes (often from quad/hip flexor tightness). Don't worry about their poor thoracic spine, hip, and ankle mobility because that doesn't matter... Never mind the stability we need in the knee and mid-foot... And who needs that great toe extension? We need to "Torch a Quad" to help people out. Com'on Man! The sad thing is the only thing people are going to get out of this article is to build the $&!* out of their quads... Sad.
The amount of research that is out about low back pain and how it is related to having poor gluteal firing is overwhelming. And every single time I find poor glutes, I find tight/dominant quads. Just ask someone with back pain and poor glutes to drop down into half kneeling, they will hate you because their down leg quad is going to be stretching like crazy and they might not even be at 0 degrees hip extension yet.
This was my reaction the first time I breezed through the article. Then I read it a second time.
After reading it in more detail a second time, I picked out a few things that frustrated me even more... One, he is a chiropractor. Two, the article was directed to the sedentary person who is almost always quad dominant. As I read I can see the strides we are starting to make as a profession in the rehab/exercise field are being held back by articles like this. I can see PT's and Strength Coaches reading this and thinking, "WOW... Not surprising, its written by a chiropractor". And I wouldn't blame them! The lack of current exercise knowledge in this profession is scary. The number of DC's (and exercise professionals) who have never heard of Pr. Stuart McGill, Gray Cook, Mike Boyle etc. is dumbfounding. It is time to open our eyes and minds to what Dr. Craig Liebenson is attempting to show us. We need to pull everything together and "Bridge the Gap" between performance and rehab. There is more to it than getting a good burn in the quads.
Educate yourself on movement first, and then worry about sets and reps later. And lastly, educate yourself on the real causes of symptoms and do not prescribe exercises because they will give you a sweet burn.
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