Has anyone injured themselves doing bridging?

[stuckerj]

I like what I'm reading about the effects of bridging, but it is completely at odds with the advice of my chiropractor (who is top notch, and I've known for 30 years). He even took out a model of a spine and showed me the angle, and to be honest, it didn't look good. All the same, there are horror stories about chiropractic treatments gone wrong, and yet I can vouch for its healthiness, so I'm not going to rule anything out of hand automatically.

What I'd like to know is if there is any record of injuries with this exercise. It seems to put a lot of force on a critical joint at a very unusual angle.

I'm a tall person, and I'm also wondering if it makes a difference if a person with more of a wrestler's build does the exercise versus someone more lanky like me.

Thanks,

Jeff

[John Peterson]

hello stuckerj,

Regardless of what the exercise is and regardless of who recommends it, every person must use discretion in which exercises they choose to do. Although I have had fantastic results from 'bridging' someone else may not. The same holds true for every exercise one can think of. Bottom line: if it hurts you should not do it.

---John Peterson

[TimK]

In 1980 I fractured a vertebre in my neck during a car accident. For the next 25 years sleeping wrong or turning my head wrong getting into a car or any number of easy simple movements could make any movement of my neck painful for the next few weeks. Chiropractic care helped, but they were only tempory.
I read about the Bridge in PYTP and Combat Fitness and avoided it for a year before I tried it. My first 6 second attempt ended all neck pain as I had known it. My full range of motion returned within a few weeks and my flexibility is at least what it was before the accident.
I am not fanatic about doing the bridge, for me a minute 3 times a week is more than adequate, more than that and I start to cramp up.
Like John writes, try it and see what works best for you.

Tim

[blackbelt]

stuckerj,

I have to concur with the other on this.

If you have even the slightest concern, consult your chiropractor and/or doctor.

In my opinion, unless one of them tells you that you have some abnormality whereby bridging would obviously be detrimental to your health, then don't do it. Otherwise, I suggest two things.

One, do some research. Find as many pros and cons as you can and form your own opinion.

Two, try some bridging yourself.

Personally, I believe that many people have issues with exercises for one of those reasons. They either do the exercise wrong. And, even if an exercise is done just slightly wrong, it CAN be a problem. I’m not saying it will be, but it can be. Or, they simply push themselves too much too soon.

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

This is excellent advice that is being shared here. Further proof of the necessity to become our own best personal trainers.

---John Peterson

[gruntbrain]

I wonder how the experts feel about headstands. I do 'em with a 4 way(back,front,right,& left) neck stretch for a decent neck workout. Whether you're bridging or performing headstands, use you hands to adjust the loading on the neck

[tom]

I am tall. I don't know if that had anything to do with my results, or whether it was my competitive nature with myself.

I tried bridging and it wasn't too hard. So I started going for more and more time over a very short period - extremely short. In a few days I was close to a minute. There was no particular discomfort or pain during the exercise other than what felt like muscle exertion.

After a few weeks of minute holds and more, nose to mat, there were a few times my neck hurt, like a bad crick in the neck with a sudden turn, during other activities such as karate. Because humans naturally want to see patterns and cause in correlation, I suspected the bridge. I stopped doing it. The cricks seemed to go away. That was my perception but remember that perception is not verification.

This all happened twice. The second time I tried to be more moderate in building up to some decent time, but again the bridge itself did not hurt and I was almost immediately doing nose to mat minutes or more.

Whether the bridge is good for me or not, I'll probably never know. My enthusiasm and competitive nature had more to do with it than anything else. As with everything, I, and you, should work up to time sloooooowly if you decide to try it. Duh. Hopefully you have more self-control than I.

That is my rigorously scientific anecdote.

Tom

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

One again we see that results on this exercise can vary greatly due to differences in somatotype and physical proportions. This is not a bad thing at all. It just underscores the fact that we must carefully choose our exercises and match them to our own best advantage.It doesn't matter in the least how well or poorly anyone else can perform any given exercise. It it doesn't work well for us, or if it causes pain then we should not do it. We are each an experiment of one and we each need to remember that.

---John Peterson

[bennyb]

I've never had a problem w/ the bridge. Fact is most guys my size (215-220) can't begin to bridge cause of the pressure it puts on the head, shoulders, neck and spine. I've been exceptionally lucky to not have these problems and i'll be 25 next month and I used to have shoulder, back and neck issues when I lifted weights. There are a lot of great chiropractors in the U.S and I have one of them through my mom who goes to him. He keeps telling me not to bridge but whenever I show how I see it is done he actually ended up being silent about it and saw the flexibility and strength involved. Not saying this to P.O chiros for doing their job what I'am saying is bridging is not for everyone and if it doesn't feel good to you and it does hurt then don't do it there are better exercises for that individual. Bridging can be one of 2 things it can either be exceptionally powerful or it can screw you up the majority of it I believe rests on the first one. Its all about experimentation and done whats right for that individual. Bridging or any exercise for that can cause problems if not done properly so to quote my fitness coach "Do what you can, Don't do what you can't."

[gbjj]

Does squishing the family cat count? He tends to be in your way when you try to do anything.... including bridging... :-)

[gruntbrain]

Note there are numerous ways to adjust the difficulty of bridging so experiment - eg place your hands on an elevated surface for easier bridging. Also try front(face down) bridging; use your hands as needed to adjust the difficulty

[jaymo]

Does squishing the family cat count? He tends to be in your way when you try to do anything.... including bridging... :-)
I always have to PET my cat, Ty, while I bridge! He knows he has my "complete attention" whilst i am bridging, and so, upside down, I pet him with both hands, upside down! It helps to pass the time...

[John Peterson]

Hello Friends,

From time to time I receive questions like this one from Colon, "My brother is 19 years old when he was in his 13th he fall down from tarrace and his neck vertebra is not working properly till now. I want to know that bridge can be helpful to him or not?"

The person assumes that sight unseen I'm supposed to be able to provide an answer. Bottomline: I can't believe that anyone would ask a question like this given the pre-existing conditions that are already present. Colon, I do not mean for this to come across like a put down but your brother needs to be working one on one with a qualified therapist that can help him determine what he can and cannot do. At present I would say that based on the information provided he should stay away from bridging completely.

----John Peterson