Want the sparknotes for spine health?
(Basically what I’ve gathered form reading MANY articles and a textbook by Mcgill on the matter)
Mobilize the hip musculature to an optimal length, activate “dormant” gluteals, and strengthen your abdominals around a neutral lumbar spine.
How?
Strengthening
-planks
-birddogs
-curl-ups with neutral spine
-side planks
-deadbug variations
Flexibility
-squat-to-stands, squat-to-stands, and squat-to-stands
-stretch what is tight. . . the hip is too complex to give a one-size-fits-all answer
Activation
-Gluteals
–supine bridges
–clams
Your goal is to get as strong a core as possible (yeah, I said core) and get as flexible as you need to be. Pick dynamic mobility drills over static stretching, but static stretching is effective for decreasing excessive neural drive to muscles, so it should be used in specific instances as well. I remember EC mentioning that hamstrings tightness can actually be a protective mechanism in compensation for inactive glutes by posteriorly tilting the pelvis in the gluteals’ stead. This means that, if tight hamstrings are causing your sacrum to ‘tuck’ at the bottom of a squat, glute activation should certainly accompany hamstring static stretches.
BTW, I’m a college student and I’m certainly not infallible, however I have read a good deal on the subject, and I’ve found the former information to be affective in my own case. Check out the my log. ~5 weeks after a disc injury and I’m back to ~parallel~ box front squatting.