I have been told to exaggerate the curve of my lumbar spine, is this your neutral spine?
No. Neutral spine is a happy medium between the two extremes of the lumbar spine. It is a position that requires muscular control because we are not relying on bone-on-bone compression. Not to mention that if we exaggerate the lumbosacral curve, our spine has to balance out the curves which this leads to an exaggerated thoracic and/or cervical curve. To a physical therapist, this means that the shoulders are forward and there is decreased room for chest/lung expansion (this is bad for the displacement of that room the diaphragm takes up when we breathe in because it means more pressure on our pelvic floor or smaller more frequent breaths). Not to mention the forward head displacement wreaks havoc on our upper back and neck muscles and vertebrae. I believe that if you hold this posture consistently and we jump ahead 5-10 years and evaluate all of your pains/aches and pelvic floor symptoms due to this posture coaching, it wouldn’t be a pretty picture.