Exercise for Back Pain?

Guest · Guest

I want to get back into a regular exercise routine, but I suffer from low back pain. Can you make some recommendations?

Ogi Ressel · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 8

You should be congratulated for wanting to get into an exercise program. Many people forget that the body is a dynamic organism that does best when it's moving. The couch and the remote are enemies.

At the same time, however, there seems to be an unspoken rule that anyone suffering with low back pain need only to exercise it "out" and all will be well. Many people have the idea that having back pain is caused by a lack of exercise, or that back pain suddenly descends from the heavens to plague us mortals and is just a fact of life. Not true! While the incidence of back pain is very common, people need to remember that back pain has a reason for being. Your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong–and that you need to do something.

There are many "treatments" out there that deal with this issue. The plethora of treatments for pain is astounding! And yet, with all this vast supply of help, back pain is still a huge issue. Why is this? Because people aren't correcting the cause of the problem. A good analogy would be having a fire in your living room. You then have a choice: either put out the fire or turn off the fire alarm. Which makes more sense?

So when I say that exercise may not be your answer, I am serious. Before attempting an exercise regimen, please see your chiropractor to discuss what may be causing your pain. You may need to be placed on a schedule of care that is designed to correct the underlying problem, and then your exercise regimen will be of great benefit–not the other way around.

Holistic Harry · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Hamilton On

You might consider looking into the McKenzie Technique. This technique is standard procedure for disk herniation or damage in most of the world. I don't know that your problem is disk related, but it is the most likely cause.

Britta · Guest

Pilates is a great and gentle way to get back in to shape. It is rehabilitating for the spine and works on your abdominal strength so that you put less pressure on your low back. I would suggest getting private lessons on a Reformer which is a machine that they use. Sometimes you can even write it off through your medical plan. Ask you physio...

marclebert · Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Mississauga

Have you had an MD or a Chiropractor diagnose you? Without a specific diagnosis, you cannot move forward. Once you have this a physiotherapist and/or Chiropractor can help you design a plan to get stronger. I have suffered from back pain (two bulging disks) yet I am a trainer and compete in sports and workout- there is hope and the RIGHT exercise makes it better. Make sure to have a professional show you (and psossibly work with you for a bit) to do the prescibed exercises properly.

ryanmikeson · Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 1

Lower back pain is really very terrible. I understand your problem of back pain as I have also suffered the same a few months back. I tried all the possible ways to come out of this problem however they all failed to get my problem resolved. I found a lot of things that were applicable and proved helpful for my back pain (backpaindiary.com) I will suggest you the same and hope it’ll help you too.

(edited by forum moderator)

JoJoanie · Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 10

Indeed, my first thought, even before reading all the other similarly-thinking posts, was 'back pain from what?", "where exactly?", and "have you seen a chiropractor or doctor?" It is risky to take exercise advice from us randoms online when you have back issues.

That said, here's my random advice.
As I understand it a lot of back issues can be eased, and future problems prevented, when the stomach muscles are strengthened.

Some easy exercises you can do at home...

1.
Lay on your back on the floor (take your time getting down there)
One leg at a time, lift your knee and pull your foot back to be flat on the floor at least one foot length in front of your butt. Keep your feet shoulder width apart.
Place your arms on the floor at your sides
Now you Do The Crunch
Lift your hips, squeezing your butt cheeks together, getting your butt just off the floor.
As you get stronger aim for bringing your torso up to nearly make a straight line from shoulder blades (which should stay on the floor) to knees.

Do like 10 crunches at a time with a rest in between, relaxing your legs if you need.

2.
Sitting in your CHAIR (at your desk at work or at the dining room table) with feet flat on the floor in front of you,
lift one knee up off the chair a couple inches (with the foot just dangling below),
hold that for 2 seconds, put your knee down and repeat (10 times)
then do the other leg.

3.
And then there is always the FITS OF LAUGHTER exercise.
Laughing is GREAT exercise for the stomach (and the soul I might add).
Rent some Comedies from NetFlix, or turn on the TV and watch some sitcoms like Kath & Kim ( I always laugh at that one) and let the comedians give you a free workout.

Note: doing the FIT OF LAUGHTER exercise in combination with the CRUNCH and CHAIR

Hope these can help you,
sorry if they are too easy and you were looking for a more grueling workout.

J

Boss · Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 96 Location: The end of a wire.

Not to sound rude to the above poster, but Crunches might be a bad idea. If you strengthen the Abs, when you have problems strengthening the Lower Back, you might make the Back problem worse, as you're slowly over time potentially incrase the weight of the Abdominal muscle, as it develops, potentially if the amount of muscle mass increase, exceeds the weight of any Abdominal Fat the person might lose, you're increasing Abdominal weight, causing possible increased Back pain.

I should know, because I did that to myself, giving up Deadlifting one time because I went through a phase of not liking it, and I tried to do more Abs stuff, and it started affecting my Back, when I lost lower Back muscle and gained more Core strength, and you could feel it a bit getting out of bed.

4-6 weeks of Dealifting again, and the problem went away.

I would advise a person in that situation to seek medical advice before attempting any kind of exercise. It could be some kind of Myositis, or the early stages of something like Fibromyalgia, Ankylosing Spondylitis, possibly Spondylolysis, early onset of possible Osteoarthritis, Spinal Stenosis, prolapsed disc, etc etc, and until a Doctor gave the person an all clear, exercising could be harmful.

However I would hope in the last 3+ years, the poster would have found more answers to their question :).

JoJoanie · Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 10

But you liked my laughter exercise didn't you?
:wink: