I have a back condition known as scheuermann’s disease/kyphosis. I physically cannot put my thoracic vertebrate into a traditionally “neutral” or an extended position due to my skeleton having developed differently (a quick google image search of scheurmann’s kyphosis if you haven’t seen it before, it’s the 3rd image.) It affects 1% of the population but severe cases are a little more rare and I’ve found it really hard to get a good opinion on this (some say not to squat or deadlift, but they also say that people with healthy spines shouldn’t so not sure what that is worth)
This translates to making it quite difficult to put cervical and lumbar into neutral positions, obviously. It also translates to rounded shoulders etc. These I can all actively bring to neutral positions, but it throws my center of gravity off as my thoracic cannot enter anything less than a 30 degree or so flexion. Maintaining just that degree of flexion while loaded is quite difficult as well, probably akin to keeping one’s back in hyperextension throughout a heavy deadlift/squat. I am worried about how this compromises me on barbell movements, specifically when squatting/deadlifting with a rounded back and the implications regarding something like a posterior herniation.
I have coached a few people with this and they were able to lift quite well- one of whom pulled over 500 fairly quickly. The biggest issues were benching and pressing. Benching was tough because the kyphosis made it difficult to stay on the bench sometimes.
In any event, I wouldn’t really worry about this and whatever movement modification you may need- if any-will only be known after you start training.
To clarify, I already train. My bench is somewhat weak relative to everything else, though I’m not an expert strength coach so I don’t really know if I’m having issues. Is it a surface area thing- back to bench ratio being lower? Regarding the pressing movements, were there any fixes that helped them, or was it just “they were relatively weaker and took longer to progress these”?
My biggest concern were the other 2 movements because upper back rounding is kind of inevitable. Is there anything I should look out for? Did the guy pulling 500 look like a scared cat? I can deadlift big with an extended/neutral lumbar, but my upper back rounds SO much it just looks wrong I can’t imagine it being safe/productive.
If links are allowed here is a video of me deadlifting from 2 years ago. It’s gotten better since then, but not much, and this is a good example of how extreme it can be.
