Have you ever
experienced back pain?
With more than a quarter
of all adults having experienced back pain within the past three
months and about 80% experiencing back pain at
some point during their lifetime the answer is
probably YES! Unfortunately this means back pain
is nearly a universal human experience. But don’t worry, there is
hope!
So what can you do
about it?
In order to combat back
pain, we must first have a basic understanding of the function of the
low back. The low back’s primary purpose is to provide stability.
It is meant to resist motion, not create it. I’m sure you’ve all
hear “lift with your legs…NOT with your back”. But what does
this really mean. When we move, we are meant to spare the low back by
moving from the hips and the upper back, NOT the low back. More
often than not, we get it backwards, and end up moving more from our
low back while our hips and upper back tighten up. The end result
is…you guessed it…low back pain!
Digging a little deeper
we find…
The muscles of the low
back are usually overactive/overworked because of poor movement.
This poor movement results from a lack of help from the supporting
cast (glutes, hamstrings, abs, etc.), poor breathing mechanics,
shifts or rotations in the spine or hips, lack of hip/upper back
mobility, or any combination of the above.
So how do I find out if
my back pain is caused by me not moving right?
At Body Structure our
physical therapists will perform a thorough evaluation to help
determine the root cause of your issues and provided actionable
solutions for alleviating your back pain. They will also help outline
a long-term plan to get you moving better and help keep your back as
healthy and pain-free as possible.
What else?
Knowing what NOT to do is
just as important as knowing what to do in the struggle with back
pain. Exercises that create bending and/or twisting at the low back
should rarely find their way into your exercise programs, especially
if you already have back pain. This means common core exercises
often believed to be helpful like crunches, sit-ups, and loaded
twisting movements should be abandoned for more appropriate
exercises.
If those aren’t good,
then what back exercises are appropriate?
Assuming serious,
underlying conditions (such as disc degeneration, herniated discs,
stenosis, etc.) are ruled out, there is a plethora of exercises
available to improve the strengthen and endurance of the muscles of
your low back and keep pain at bay. Because the primary function of
your low back is to provide stability and resist motion, the
exercises chosen should put you in a position to do just
that…stabilize. At the same time, working on the mobility of the
hips and the upper back will help put movement back where it is
supposed to be.
Below are a few suggested
exercises to get the ball rolling to a more pain-free place.
Exercise 1 – Pelvic pain
Single Knee Isometic
How to do it:
- Lying on your
stomach, hands in push-up position
- Keep hips and pelvis
on floor, press upper body, head, and chest up
Hold for 5 seconds,
repeat 10 times
Initially, the goal may be
to alleviate the pain, but in the end, the probable result will not
only be less pain, but better overall movement. When each joint is
properly playing its part and all your joints are working together,
you are both more pain free and more capable. We have assisted
thousands over the past twenty years to hurt less and move better.
We would be glad to guide you too!
