Low back pain can result from a strained muscle, sprained ligament or sudden fall. Car accidents frequently cause low back pain. Perhaps your back pain most often appears when you use your back muscles to perform unfamiliar physical activities. Examples include weed pulling or other yard work as well as lifting heavy furniture or equipment. Specially developed exercises, approved by your physician or therapist, can help strengthen your low back muscles.
Exercise Goals
Increase your future back health prospects by improving your low back's flexibility, strength and endurance. You also want your exercise program to decrease the intensity of your back pain. Finally, you want to reduce or eliminate any back pain-focused disability you are experiencing. Consider altering your attitudes toward pain as well as your fears about movement-related issues, recommends the Spine Center at New England Baptist Hospital in a 2004 report.
Exercise Types
Low-impact aerobic activities such as swimming or walking are often prescribed for low back pain patients. Lumbar extension strength-training exercises work the abdomen, and can also improve low back strength and mobility. Yoga, tai chi and chi kung combine graceful movements and meditation. These activities help to discipline your mind and can have a therapeutic effect. Flexibility exercises' effect on low back pain is unproven, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Progressive Exercise Program
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends an initial phase of back exercises that include gentle heel, ankle and abdominal exercises. The intermediate phase includes knee-to-chest stretches and exercise ball work. Your advanced exercises include targeted stretches and more difficult exercise ball moves.
Benefits
Properly performed low back exercises can help transport nutrients into your back's disc spaces and tissues. This contributes to joint, ligament and muscle health. Dr. Peter J. Ullrich Jr. notes in Spine Health that regular low back workouts can help you avoid back weakness and stiffness. You might be able to decrease the duration and severity of future low back pain, and possibly ward off potential back pain episodes.
Warning
Refrain from exercises that require bending immediately after you arise in the morning. Your discs contain more fluid and are more subject to damage from pressure at that time. Do not execute any exercises that cause pressure on your low back until those muscles have been well toned. Regardless of your exercise routine, do not push yourself until you feel low back pain, advises The New York Times Health Guide.
References
- American Academy of Family Physicians: Low Back Pain: What Can Cause Low Back Injuries?
- J. Rainville, et. al.: The Spine Center at New England Baptist Hospital: 2004: Exercise as a Treatment for Chronic Low Back Pain
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Exercise: Effect of Exercise on Back Pain
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Low Back Pain Exercise Guide
- Peter J. Ullrich, Jr., M.D.: Spine-Health: Exercise and Back Pain
- "The New York Times" Health Guide: Back Pain: Low: Exercise and Physical Therapy
