How these Simple Exercises Can Stop Your Back Pain

By Sherwin Nicholson | Updated May 1, 2020

stretching and mobility

Did you know that one of the most highly recommended treatments for lower back pain is proactive & protective exercise?

Other treatments that are recommended can involve medication and surgery.  Anyone of us who has had a moderate to severe experience with back pain has seriously considered each of these three options.

Surgery is generally the last option recommended.   Physical activity is usually advised by virtually all health care professionals before any surgical options are.

Commitment is a key part of physical activity simply because it is one the best treatments

It is, however, the most ignored as many don’t see the link between maintaining a strong, healthy back and exercising.  Regardless of what you already know about the various treatments, there is a common thread throughout each one.

Your back just won’t get better on its own by rest.  Healing will occur, and symptoms will improve, but the risk of injury is still there.  If you are relying on painkillers or surgery, those also have a large failure rate.

Don’t be reluctant

We can be guilty of being reluctant to exercise or stretch because it is not as well promoted scientifically as medicine or surgery is.  It is encouraged more as an optional, “try this and that and let me know if it works for you” fashion.

Then if it doesn’t work, your pretty likely to abandon it and find a more scientific way to treat your symptoms.  Physical activity is so poorly encouraged, that most people will avoid it at all costs even if they themselves know that it is important.

One important explanation for why people prefer not to be active is that before their back issue, they weren’t active before.

They will say “Why should I exercise now if I didn’t do it when my back was fine before?”  This may seem logical, and for many, they resume to their lifestyle when they rested, healed and recovered

Avoid the false assumptions about your back

The problem with this understanding is that there is a false assumption that no underlying changes are occurring over time.   It is believed that nothing has significantly affected your body during this entire period of pre-event, event and post-event occurrences.  Most feel that the situation has returned to normal and that there is no reason to incorporate some level of fitness.  This is a common argument against doing it.

Exercise for Lower Back pain

What should be understood is that there IS very well an underlying set of changes occurring in our bodies as we age, change our activity, maintain our health, whether we know it or want to accept it.  Your body can maintain its health and protect itself under extraordinary circumstances with little warning signs.

The lower back is incredibly strong and durable and will only show signs of fatigue and injury only after very extended times of exertion and abuse. 

Most of us only interpret that when aches and discomfort are experienced after activity, it means to rest after exercise.  True, but it is also an indication to become aware of developing patterns of very real and potentially problematic issues with your spine.

Taking the time to listen to your body

This is the point in which you should be thinking more of your back and not less.   Pain is an important signal for this sign.   It does not only mean to take an opportunity to stop and rest.  It is one for both resting and listening to your body.

If you did not see the need to be physically active before your injury and chronic pain, that is because of years prior; your body functioned differently.  It functioned in a more optimal way so as to minimize your risk of injury.

Over time, your health changed gradually causing your back to change with it.  Because it is so resilient, it does not complain until so much has changed that you do not realize it has even happened.  Your injury is telling you this.  This trend will NOT go away with time but will get worse if ignored, especially if you work at a desk all day long.

It’s common to ignore the discomfort at work and if your career has put you under severe circumstances where you must sit for very long periods of time, then you need to avoid the bad habits that can worsen the pain.

The Common Thread About Exercise

No matter who or where you get your support from, it will always be a recommended thread in all of your efforts to find and real treatment for your lower back pain.

You will not be able to find a source stating that exercise is not beneficial to your well being.  The closest to this justification would be that certain forms or types are not beneficial to certain aspects of your well-being which makes perfect sense.  It is also true in the respect that certain forms are beneficial to certain aspects of your well-being.

More weight training, cycling, jogging, sit-ups, etc. is not beneficial to the health of your lumbar spine.  But certain movements and stretches ARE.

physical activity

Do not take this a merely light conversation but as careful and considerate advice from advice from personal experience.

If you are new to this Website or have visited it often, it will become very clear about the position that The Low Back Pain Program holds.  This site does not take the seriousness of lower back issues lightly.

The complexities of lumbar pain are there, but whether you are willing to accept the importance of specific and targeted movements and stretches for lower back pain or not, the science and rewards behind it are there.

If you have come here because your are frustrated with endless, repetitive, basic exercises and are still looking for something more specific, then this IS the site for you.

If you are still skeptical, there should be a point in your experiences with your pain where you may even feel that doing something physical provided that it is safe, is at the least worth doing. Your disc and joints do age faster as your injury remains untreated.

Do not rule out an opportunity that can only help.

Read the next topics if you want to learn more:

Why exercise can help?

The obstacles that get in our way for relief

Are you concerned about physical activity?

Are you avoiding stretching?

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