It’s a new year and most of us have been busy making New Year’s resolutions. If you have back problems, then I challenge you to make a resolution that includes back exercise for the new year. We back pain sufferers need to make a resolution to do one back exercise each day in this new year. As the following article explains, there’s no better way to avoid back pain.
Now that New Year’s is around the corner, I think a short lesson on back anatomy is in order.
Hopefully, your resolutions include committing or recommitting to doing daily back exercises. In general, the experts I interview and the research I read (not to mention my professional and personal experience) indicate that daily back exercise is, by far and away, one of the most effective means we humans have to manage back pain. (This may vary according to your diagnosis, but is the case more times than not.)
On to the anatomy lesson.
Back Exercise for the New Year
For people with back pain, my opinion is exercise selection and program design should be made with a consideration toward the way the moving pieces of the body connect with one another. For back flexibility as well as good, supportive body posture (often a key to back pain reduction), it is important to understand the way the pelvis, in particular, affects the low back.
One of the most common posture culprits affecting muscle related low back pain is the anterior pelvic tilt. Not everyone has this problem (in fact some people actually have the opposite, which is called posterior pelvic tilt). Just the same, anterior pelvic tilt is one of the most common pelvic misalignments resulting in back pain.
For the 80% of people with back pain who can aptly manage by doing daily back exercises, working on your muscles is a “low hanging fruit.” In other words, if you take some time every day to stretch and strengthen the muscles of the core, your back muscles and your hip muscles, you may quickly find that your back pain has diminished.
Now let’s put these two concepts together. I’ve already said that an anterior pelvic tilt may lead to back pain. But can you exercise that away? It turns out you probably can, at least to some degree. The reason for this is that when your quadriceps muscles (muscles at the front of your thigh) get tight, they pull the pelvis into that anterior tilt. To get started addressing your anterior pelvic tilt with exercise, try a quad stretch.
Are you with me? Are you going to commit to doing back exercise for the new year? If you do so, you will be rewarded for your efforts. You may see some relief from your back pain, and as a bonus, your overall health may improve.
To see the original source of this article, please click here.
