Tips to Stop Lower Back Pain
Most of us will have to endure back pain at some point in our lives. That is a very unfortunate statistical fact. The reason for all this back pain is the fact that we all sit way too much at work, school, meals in cars, planes, trains, and of course on the couch, etc… Our muscles get tight and weak and we start getting back pain. Or, we get some kind of an injury, because our backs are too weak to withstand the twisting force during activity or an accident.
Back pain comes in all forms, sometimes mild and sometimes severe. Most people just end up living with the pain, because they just do not know how to get better. And you can only take so much pain medication or cortisol shots. And of course, surgery is very serious and does not always work. However, by learning how to get your muscles back in balance, an amazing thing can happen. You can retrain your body to move more naturally again and the back pain can be eliminated. I mean, you didn’t always live with back pain. It is a postural and muscular problem. And that means most of the time, you can reverse it. So, here are 5 great tips to get you started…
I know, what the heck do those words even mean? Simple, take a look in the mirror from the side. Are your hips tilted forward and is your butt pushed back. Do you see an over-inflated curve in your lower back? that would be known as lordotic posture. Or are your hips tilted back. Is your butt tucked under and looking really flat? That would be kyphotic.
Once you know what kind of posture you have, you have taken the first step toward healing. Begin gently moving the opposite way and try to remember throughout the day to keep your hips square over your pelvis. It should not tip forward or back. There are many pictures out there for healthy posture… do a little research and you will quickly find out how poorly you stand and how to start fixing it.
Okay, so most people know that they should have a stronger back and core. But, that does not mean that people understand which exercises to do. In fact, they end up doing all the wrong exercises that do more harm than good. You want to do exercises that do NOT move your core around. You want to do stabilization exercises so that your core gets stronger and learns to keep you stable even when you are twisting or being forced to move in a unnatural position. Plus, the stronger you get your core, the better you will feel in your back. The back usually respond to core work almost immediately and start feeling better.
I meet very, very few people that are flexible in a way that is functional in a good way. In other words, even someone who seems flexible in some ranges of motion are usually way too tight in other areas. And of course, most people are just pretty tight all over the place. And tight muscles mean that they are overworked all day. What usually happens is the muscles opposite them are too weak and over-stretched all day. It all comes back to your posture again, because how you stand and sit all day is the posture which your muscles are forced to deal with all day. Depending upon whether you are more kyphotic or lordotic will indicate which muscles specifically you should be stretching. You do not want to stretch muscles that are already weak and too long. That will just make your posture worse.
This is the opposite of tip #3. Once you are stretching the tight muscles for your kind of posture and muscle imbalance, you also need to strengthen the weak ones. This is the flip side of the coin in tip #3. You need to do both things. Stretching the tight muscles is fantastic, but without strengthening the weak ones, you still will not balance out. Usually, and this is over-simplified, if the muscles in the front of your legs are tight, the ones in the back will be weak and vice versa. Again, it all comes down to your unique muscle imbalances which must determine how you stretch and strengthen your body.
You can start stretching and exercising even if you are laying in bed all day. And the sooner you begin a rehab program, the better. Obviously, you have to check with your doctor first, but assuming you get the okay, getting out of pain is determined by how you do your rehab program. Obviously, it needs to be the right stuff for you, but there is rarely a reason to wait. Again, I have worked with people who are almost entirely immobile and in bed and gotten them into full stretching and exercise routines that started making a huge difference right away.