Are Your Exercises Preventing Your Back From Healing?

When in pain, are there exercises that hurt your back?

The short and easy answer is “Yes”! Exercises you do regularly can hurt your back if you have recently been injured or are in significant pain. Many patients continue their normal exercise routine even in a “flare” or after an injury. In fact, this could delay the normal healing time for your back pain. For the sake of being brief, I will talk about low back pain, but some of the basic principles can be applied to most areas of joint pain. Proper and ongoing lower back diagnosis is recommended before or before changing your training program.

Back pain when leaning forward.

This is a very common type of low back pain. The pain will be worse when you lean forward, and you may feel pain in your buttocks or thighs. Any symptoms that radiate more or that include bowel or bladder changes, see your doctor as soon as possible. Many common stretches involve bending the lower back. It is essential to avoid this movement in the initial stages of a back injury. Many patients just won’t get better until they stop doing this exercise.

Exercises to avoid with a flexion-type lumbar injury.

First, avoid all exercises that bend your back forward at the waist. These include sit-ups, toe touches, and seated forward push-ups. Any exercise that involves a forward stance is not recommended. Some of the other exercises to avoid with a flexion injury include:

Reading on a bike while leaning forward.

Toe keys while standing or sitting.

Any abdominal exercise lying on your back.

Pulling one or both knees towards the chest.

Seated leg presses.

Lying on your back and raising one knee while doing trunk rotations.

Hurdling stretching.

Your chiropractor or physical therapist has likely recommended many or at least a couple of them. If you have the type of low back pain I described, try staying away from these for a couple of weeks and see if it helps. After recovery, these exercises are totally fine to resume.

Our Rapid City, SD chiropractic office offers relief and guidance for this and many other ailments or injuries. Dr. Gruba is also a licensed acupuncturist in Rapid City.

There is often no need for chronic low back pain. I recommend starting with a proper diagnosis and treatment. It is always best to take an active approach at home, including necessary stretching and exercises. But, with poor guidance, your back pain can be a long-term problem and can even disrupt your future.

To your health,

Greg Gruba DC