We’ve all been there before: pain that makes you lean back a little, place a hand on your lower back, and complain about how much it hurts. Did you know with the implementation of some basic exercises you can help reduce and even prevent lower back pain?

Exercise – Regular exercise like walking, biking, or swimming is essential to healing low back pain. Like other pains and conditions, exercising your heart and other muscles helps to maintain good health and provide a faster recovery after an injury. In the case of back pain, swimming or walking just a few minutes a day is an ideal way to alleviate pain.

Strengthening – Exercises focusing on strengthening your core muscles including your stomach, back and leg muscles are great activities for relieving lower back pain. If your core is strong, it will better support your spine, which in turn reduces pressure on the spine and spinal discs. The best strengthening exercises for low back pain are crunches, wall sits, and some basic Pilates movements (please consult a trained Pilates instructor).

Stretching – Stretching your muscles is a must in order to reduce back pain. Stretching keeps muscles and tissues flexible and less susceptible to injury. Specifically, flexion and extension exercises work best for low back pain support, including hamstring stretches and press up back extensions.

There are, however, always a few exercises that may possibly aggravate back muscles with extensive repetitions. These can cause even more damage to already injured areas. To provide insight, outlined below are exercises NOT recommended for the lower back:

Sit-ups – Straight and bent leg sit-ups or curl ups are not beneficial to do when having acute back pain.  Although some people may think sit-ups can strengthen the core or abdominal muscles, most people tend to use muscles in the hips when doing sit-ups, which applies pressure on the discs in the spine.

Leg lifts – Lifting both legs off of the ground while lying down is not a recommended exercise combination. In fact, the simultaneous lifting motion will cause your lower back pains to worsen. Instead, try to lift one leg at a time while keeping the other leg bent and stable on the ground for support.

Weights – Lifting heavy weights above the waist line, like bicep curls, can potentially increase acute low pain back. However, lifting lighter weights may help relieve chronic back pain, but should be discussed with a physician.

Toe touches – Standing toe touches to stretch out the back and leg muscles actually will put greater stress on the spinal disks and ligaments. When performed incorrectly, toe touches can also overstretch the lower back muscles and hamstrings.

Like with all exercises, it is important to speak with a physician if unsure about the type of exercise and how much weight should be lifted with a back injury.  Please also take into consideration these good and bad exercises when attempting to relieve low back aches and pains.

If you or someone you know has been experiencing low back pain, please contact Non-Surgical Orthopaedics to schedule an appointment at any of our three Georgia facilities.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/lower-back-pain-10/slideshow-exercises