09/03/2026
⚠️ For entertainment/educational purposes only, not medical advice. We always recommend consulting your physician before starting any new exercise program and seeking assessment from a physical therapist to ensure proper form and safety with exercises for osteoporosis.
**Meet the drill that comes before every deadlift, kettlebell swing, or hip hinge we teach: hands-on-knees neutral spine.** 👇
Most people have almost no awareness of their own spine — they can’t tell you if it’s rounded or straight, because they’ve simply haven’t had a reason to, that is until they’re being told to lift weight to strengthen their bones. That’s why just learning the movement and positioning should be the real starting point for every deadlift progression.
In this drill, Thuy pushes her hands into her knees — that pressure engages the lats, creating stability through the spine. From there, she’s activating the small intervertebral stabilizers and learning to *feel* what neutral actually feels like, not just what it looks like.
This isn’t osteoporosis-specific. It’s foundational to strength training, period.
Two things we watch closely:
1️⃣ **Overarching the lower back.** The instinct to “straighten the spine” often overcorrects into the lumbar spine. Neutral isn’t arched, and it isn’t rounded — it’s right in the middle, like a straight line.
2️⃣ **Kyphosis in the upper back.** Thoracic rounding tends to increase with age, especially with today’s society where everything pulls our shoulders forward. Kyphosis can also shift your center of mass forward, and the upper lumbar spine (especially L1, a common fracture site) becomes pressurized with constant forward-pulling load.
That’s why this movement matters beyond bone density. It strengthens the muscles that help you stand taller, builds the bracing that lets you move through life more confidently, and helps talk pressure off the vertebra most vulnerable to fracture. 🦴