The spine is divided into 4 general sections: Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, and Sacral
The term “Lumbar” refers to the lower portion of the spine just above the pelvis or hips. Anatomically, it refers to the last 5 vertebrae in the spine. This area gets a lot of attention because it’s frequently a trouble spot for a lot of people.
While you have “disks” between each verterbrae, it’s frequently the lumbar disks that are “bulging” or “blown” and are responsible for a lot of “sciatica” symptoms and complaints.
Also, the lumbar area supports the “core” muscles that help with stabilizing a person when they are active with walking, playing sports, or simply rolling over in bed. Being sedentary like most older folks are, the muscles of the lumbar are prone to shorten in some areas and weaken in others and conspire to make it difficult to stand up from a chair.