Back Pain Exercises
Exercise is important for everyone to ensure overall good health. It is especially important that we exercise our back, after all we expect it to support the weight of our entire body. It is actually a very small area at the base of the spinal column which takes the strain as we twist and turn into unnatural positions in our every day lives so, strengthening our back through exercise is vital. Hopefully any back pain we suffer is nothing more than a simple muscle strain which will heal quite quickly. It could alternatively be caused by a number of things such as an injury to a disc, arthritis or osteoporosis to name but a few.
A great many things can cause back pain some may be more serious than others such as kidney infection etc. it is therefore important that you consult a doctor before embarking on any self administered treatment. There are only some types of injury which will benefit from back pain exercises and others may get worse. If you find yourself experiencing extremely sharp pain or numbness you must see a doctor immediately.
If we are careful we can get through life without causing any major damage to our backs and lets be honest prevention is much better than any cure. We find ourselves lifting items all the time. It is vitally important that we do this in the correct manner, by bending our knees and keeping our backs straight. If we do not do this we end up expecting our back to lift the weight of the item as well as a large percentage of our body weight. This puts massive strain on the back bone which has a diameter of less than 2 inches!
Stretching the back muscles after any physical exertion which requires us to use the muscles in our back can also be very helpful in the prevention of back pain. These activities include every day things such as gardening and walking as well as sports such as swimming, jogging or cycling. So how do we do this? It is simple, all you have to do is bend over at the waist slowly with your arms hanging loosely. Hold this position for approximately half a minute before gently straightening up again. This helps by allowing the muscles all the way from behind the knees to the neck to stretch out, it is especially good after sitting in a car for a long period of time.
Back pain exercises can help relieve the discomfort but they can also help to prevent back pain by reducing the risk of obesity which is another major cause of back problems.
Here are a few simple back pain exercises which are worth trying:
a. Lie flat on your back on a hard surface, slowly lift one knee and pull it into your chest with your arms. Do this for each knee alternately.
b. Putting pressure on the abdomen can ease the pain when muscles are out of alignment. To do this again lie flat on your back on the floor, lift your knees up and push down using the stomach muscles.
c. light weights, can be used by standing on a flat surface with the feet approximately 18" apart then slowly and gently lift the arms up and out to the side of your body and then to the front before relaxing.
d. Simple bending is really useful. All that is required is that you bend from the waist slowly forwards and back and from side to side whilst standing on an even surface.
Back pain exercises are all about very simple, gentle exercise which, through repetition will strengthen the muscles in the back. As the muscles gain in strength the pain usually starts to ease. It is important that you do not try to do excessive exercise as this may not gain faster results but more likely make the injury worse.
If you are a sufferer and your doctor has given permission back pain exercises can really help. If you do not have back pain the same exercises are a great preventative measure.
