Exercises Can CURE Back Pain
That’s right! Cure is the right word. As in make it go away and stay away.
Exercise is almost like a panacea. Professionals now universally acknowledge that exercise prevents and cures a number of medical conditions. Exercise will make your life pleasanter and easier. Among the benefits you will gain from regular exercise are prevention and alleviation of back pain. Physical therapy is, commonly, a part of treatment for back pain.
Exercise produces two benefits in back pain. You will recover from injury faster, heal quicker, and be less likely to suffer injury.
If you already have back pain, exercise will help reduce your pain, and get you back to full function quicker. Exercise tones up the muscle supporting the back and the spine. It also increases blood flow in the muscles, which promotes faster healing. Supple and strong muscles speed up the recovery process, and get you back to full function quicker.
Your physician can hook you up with a physical therapist, who can advise you on what exercises to do, and how to protect yourself from injury while getting stronger.
When you are stretching as you warm up for the exercises, you should push as far as you can go easily. If you feel the muscles beginning to complain, stop a moment. You’ll feel the pain ease. Push just a little farther, now. You’ll feel the muscles get tight and they’ll start to hurt again, and not let up. Hold the stretch at this point a moment, then relax. Then do the stretch again. This repetition gives you much greater benefit, and will stretch you quite a bit farther than the first stretch. It will not injure you.
NIH Recommendations
The National Institute of Health recommends back strengthening exercises at least 2-3 times a week. Exercising three times a week for 15 minutes only for the back should be enough. Vigorous exercise is not advisable when you already have back pain. Back strengthening exercises should be performed in a slow and relaxed manner avoiding any undue rush or strain. Typical exercises involve strength training for gaining strength in the back muscles, aerobics for improving heart health and speed up the recovery process, and stretching for gaining flexibility.
Stretching exercises help in improving flexibility and the range of movements. The repetition of exercise movements should be slow enough that you can breathe easily during the whole exercise session. You should not stretch or exert to a point where there is severe pain. Unless a healthcare professional advises a back pain sufferer otherwise and if there is no you should repeat each movement five times.
Stretching Exercises for Relieving Back Pain
1- Pelvic Tilt: Lie down on your back with knees bent and the feet flat on the floor. The feet should be a hip-width apart. Let your hands lie in a relaxed manner on both the sides of your body. Gently flatten the end of your back (the back of the waist) against the floor. Hold this position as per the advice of your healthcare professional (from 3 to 5 seconds) and then relax for 2-3 seconds before repeating the move. Do five repetition of the exercise.
2- Single Leg Pull: Lie on the floor with one leg stretched out and the other bent at the knees. Catch the bent leg at the thighs and bring the knee closer to the chest. Hold it in that position for five seconds while the other leg is pressed to the floor. Go back to the starting position and repeat the exercise with the other leg. Do five repetitions with each leg.
3- Double Knee to Chest: The single leg pull exercise can be done with both the legs. In this exercise instead of pulling one bent knee, both the bent knees are gently pulled close to the chest. Hold the position for five seconds and then release one leg to the starting position. Release the other leg to the starting position after that. Repeat the exercise for five times.
4- Pretzel: Lie on your back. Bend one leg at the knee. Cross the other leg over the bent knee. Now catch the bent leg at the thigh and bring both the legs close to the chest. Hold for 3-5 seconds. Release and go back to the starting position and repeat with changing the role of the legs.
5- Side Stretches: Stand with your feet apart and raise one hand over the shoulder and tilt the body sideways to the opposite direction of the raised hand. Let your other hand be on the waist. Hold the position for five seconds and go back to the relaxed position. Resume with the other hand and the other direction.
6- Back Stretch: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Place your palms on the lower back. Breathe easy. Bend your body backwards from the waist exhaling slowly. You can feel the gentle relaxing feeling on the lower back. Shoulder, back, and hip muscles are exercised with this movement.
There are more stretching exercises. But these six can get you started. Consult your health practitioner and find out which exercises are suitable for you, their exact method of doing, and repetition and holding specifications. Some exercises may be contraindicated for you and your therapist may advise you to do some exercise more in a week.
Strengthening Exercises
Weight training is good for people without back pain to strengthen the back muscles. But people with back pain should avoid weight training till they have recovered completely. They can increase the strength of the back muscles with the help of simple strengthening exercises.
1- Pelvic Lift: Lie on the floor with arms resting on the sides. Keep your feet flat and apart on the floor at about shoulder-width. Bend the legs at the knees and gently lift your hips off the floor. Press your hands onto the floor. The shoulders and the head also should be pressed to the floor. Do not arch your back. Let the body be in a raised and linear state from shoulder to the hips. Hold for 3-5 seconds and then slowly come back to the original position. Relax for 2 seconds and resume. Do five repetitions.
2- Partial Sit-Up Crunches: Everybody is familiar with this one. Lie on your back. Bend your knees and keep your feet flat on the floor. Cross your arms on the chest. Slowly lift you head and shoulder off the floor. This may be difficult for some and they may be able to lift only very slightly. Not to worry. With practice the lift will be better. Hold the lifted head and shoulder for a few seconds. And slowly come back to the starting position. Repeat the movement. With practice you should be able to hold the lifted position for 5-10 seconds and do 5 repetition of the exercise easily.
Your physical therapist can advise about strengthening exercises specific for your back pain. If you are seriously out of shape, get the therapist’s advice before starting an exercise program. Remember some points before starting.
• Start slow. People with back pain should be more careful.
• Do not strain yourself ever while exercising. If it hurts a lot, stop!
• Do not overdo. This is so easy to say and hard to really understand. If you hurt badly after an exercise session, you worked too hard.
• Gradually increase frequency and holding time of your stretch positions.
• Stretch first, then strengthen.
If you are not sure what you should do, get the advice of a physical therapist.
Water Aerobics
Water aerobics is especially helpful in alleviating fibromyalgia pain. Water exercise offers resistance and strengthens the muscles. Exercising in warm water has soothing effect on back pain. This exercise is good for obese people that cannot work out.
I will have future posts about fibromyalgia. Take heart. If you have it, it can be helped. It is mostly a nutritional problem, and can be fixed. Narcotics do not help it at all, and can make you worse.
There is no doubt that proper exercise and nutrition will cure spasmodic back pains to a large extent or completely. Ultimately the recovery result depends on your determination and persistence.
