The most effective lumbar exercises to relieve back pain

Despite what you may think, the cause of low back pain is rarely found where it hurts. Most people and their therapists believe that it is. That’s why they want to heat, rub, crush, vibrate and slice the place where it hurts the most.

In fact, you can tell how good a therapist is by looking at where they go in search of the cause of pain. Just attacking the place where it hurts sends out a huge amber light.

Surprisingly, lower back pain is simply a symptom that some of the bones in the lower back are out of alignment. Your immediate task is to bring them back into alignment. Do that and there’s a good chance the pain will go away.

When the vertebrae become misaligned, the ligaments, tendons, and muscles are stretched beyond their pain threshold. The core of the disks is squeezed and the disk collapses. Often the nucleus hits the spinal cord. That’s when the bread really starts. You can’t sneeze or cough without feeling like you have a red-hot poker stuck in your back. You can’t bend over the sink to brush your teeth. You can’t bend over to put on your socks.

So what causes the vertebrae in the lower back to become misaligned?

Answer! If the pelvis has moved out of alignment, it is very likely that the bones above it have moved out of alignment as well.

Treat the pelvis as the base of the bones above it and consider this analogy. If the foundation of your house moves, the walls will crack. You can patch or wallpaper the cracks, but you’ll probably have to keep patching and wallpapering until the kingdom comes. The solution is to shore (and square) the foundation so it doesn’t move.

So the precondition for an aligned spine is an aligned pelvis.

So what causes the pelvis to become misaligned?

Answer! Tight calf flexors, hamstrings, glutes, and hip muscles.

Which brings us back to the question of what are the best exercises to relieve lower back pain?

Answer! Flexibility exercises that impact pelvic alignment, particularly exercises that loosen tight calf, hamstring, gluteal, and hip flexor muscles.

But that is not the whole story. You also need to strengthen your entire musculoskeletal ecosystem by regularly going to the gym and working out, or if you’re averse to lifting weights, start a regular and systematic program of strength training at home that includes sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and the Superman Back Arch. .

It makes sense to have a body strong enough to keep the bones of the spine in proper alignment.

Interestingly, one of the best predictors of low back pain risk is the ability to do push-ups. As you do push-ups, your core muscles get stronger, front, back, and core.

If you’re looking for targets for sit-ups, push-ups, and squats, 20 of each is good, 30 is better, and 40 is best. Build Superman’s back arch up to a couple of minutes of gentle ups and downs without your chest or legs touching the ground.

The final piece of the lower back exercise puzzle are some relaxing exercises to settle your spine, exercises where you lie on your back with both legs bent at 90 degrees and your lower legs supported on an ottoman . This is known in the trade as the static back exercise, and lying in this position for 20 minutes will provide temporary relief from back pain and, over weeks and months, help the vertebrae gradually come back into alignment. .

Another relaxing pose with the ottoman is to lie on the floor with one leg on the ottoman and the other stretched out over the stream for 20 minutes, then switch legs. This is the supine muzzle stretch. Over 20 minutes, your hip flexor muscles will gradually relax and, over weeks and months, allow your vertebrae to return to better alignment.

If you’re diligent, you’ll spend a couple of hours on the floor each night watching TV, reading a book, or just falling asleep with the fairies doing the flexibility and relaxation exercises.

The strength exercises you can do after walking, shuffling, jogging, swimming, cycling… in the morning.

Now, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, your back pain wasn’t caused in a day. For most people, it happens for decades, due to poor sitting posture and lack of strength and flexibility exercises. Being 50 or more pounds overweight doesn’t help.

Nor is back pain cured in a day. Depending on how misaligned your pelvis and the bones above it are, it can take a couple of months for you to experience real relief and up to a year before you can say, ‘I don’t have back pain anymore.’

But the good news is that if you start doing something now, there is an 80% chance for 80% of people to get back 80% good nick within a year. If you have back pain, chances are good.

In the meantime, stay tuned, highly tuned, and immediately begin a serious strength and flexibility training program.