Lower back pain is common. But you can relieve the stress and pain that build up after a long day of work with exercises that strengthen and stretch your spinal and abdominal muscles for proper lower spine alignment. Next to actual injuries, poor posture is one of the most common back stressors. Slouching or standing swaybacked leads to muscle fatigue and pain. Exercise to correct posture relieves and prevents lower back pain.
Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back pain is long-lasting and recurring. A Mayo Clinic slide show --- Reference 1 --- demonstrates many simple exercises you can do at work to prevent chronic job stress from progressing to chronic lower back pain. However, when pain becomes chronic, Cleveland Clinic advises an individualized exercise program supervised by a spine-oriented physical therapist. A common exercise is a prone back stretch. It is almost a push-up, but you allow your back to sag, and raise only your torso on your arms. Hold for five seconds, then lay back down for five seconds, for 10 repetitions.
Swiss Ball Exercises
The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons prescribe lumbar stabilization exercises with a Swiss ball, an inflated ball about 18 to 24 inches in diameter. This exercise strengthens your abdominal muscles, an important part of your lower back's support. While lying on the floor, rest both calves on the ball with your hands at the sides. Lift your right leg and left arm off the ball, then do the same with the opposite sides. Hold each position for 60 seconds of abdominal muscle contraction. Other Swiss ball exercise variations can be individualized for your needs.
Floor Exercises
Simple floor exercises work when no injury is present. Muscles and ligaments supporting your lower spine can become inflamed and irritated from stress. According to Cleveland Clinic, no original injury is found in about 80 percent of these cases, called mechanical lower back pain. A simple home exercise program, which will take you no more than five minutes once every two hours, can help. While lying flat on the floor, bend your knees and raise your hips off the floor for 10 repetitions.
Activities of Daily Living
Activities of daily living, ADL, are the only exercises usually needed for acute, short-term lower back muscle strain, say specialists at the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIAMS. As long as no breaks or disk damage are detected, it usually gets better without special treatment. They advise you to simply get up and move around to ease your stiffness and relieve the pain. Sedentary activities provide insufficient exercise.
Assisted Exercises
Lower back pain may limit certain exercises. University of Michigan Health System workers and Cleveland Clinic exercise specialists advise use of a physical therapist to assure good form and prevent further injury. Always consult a physician. Self-diagnosis and self-treatment may be dangerous.
