By Dr. Ryan Peebles –
When back pain flares up, the body often slips into a cycle of muscle guarding. It’s a protective response — your system senses danger, so everything tightens to keep you safe. The problem is that the muscles doing the guarding are the wrong ones for the job.
Your big “power” muscles — the glutes, lats and trapezius — are built for movement, strength and propulsion. They’re not designed to stabilise the spine. That role belongs to the deeper layers: the multifidus, the short spinal fibres, and the smaller core stabilisers. These muscles don’t create big movements; they quietly keep the spine centred, supported and feeling safe.
During a flare‑up, fear and pain switch the system into protection mode. The power muscles take over and try to act like stabilisers. They clamp down, they brace, and they work far harder than they’re meant to. Meanwhile, the true stabilisers — the internal and external obliques, the deep spinal muscles — get overpowered and effectively shut off. They stop doing their job because the big muscles have taken control.
This is where the cycle begins:
- The stabilisers weaken and switch off.
- The power muscles tighten and lock down.
- Movement becomes stiff, awkward or “guarded”.
- The spine feels unsafe, so the body guards even more.
And round it goes.
To break out of this loop, the body needs to be shown that it’s safe again. That starts with getting out of the fight‑or‑flight posture and letting those big muscles relax.
One of the simplest ways to do this is to get down onto the floor. The floor gives your body feedback, support and a sense of grounding. From there, slow breathing and gentle, low‑effort movements help the power muscles let go so the stabilisers can switch back on.
Once the system calms down, you can begin re‑introducing deep spinal support — small, controlled movements that wake up the multifidus and core stabilisers without triggering the guarding response.
Please see the link for the exercises that guide you through this process.