4 Exercises For Back Pain Relief | Optimum Allied Health

4 Exercises For Back Pain Relief!

The average person will accumulate an average of 50hrs per week of sitting. Driving, sitting at a desk, sitting at home (in front of the TV/smart phone / iPad) all contribute. One of the most common things we see from this is bad posture that leads to back pain!

Estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014–15 National Health Survey show about 3.7 million Australians (16% of the population) have current back problems. It is estimated that 70–90% of people will suffer from lower back pain during their life time. We know that lower back pain describes a range of conditions related to the joints, bones, connective tissue, muscles and nerves.

So what is happening when we sit down too much?

Well there are a few results and they include:

  • Tightening/overactive hip flexors
  • Weakening core and trunk muscles
  • Poor posture
  • De-activating gluteal (bum) muscles
  • Pain
Being proactive with your health to help manage lower back pain is the best way to prevent or eliminate long term pain. If you’re suffering from back pain, or even just a bit of stiffness these four exercises will help!

This is Stage 1 for a back relief / strengthening program. First step is to reduce or eliminate the stiffness and pain and we do that by stretching!

Exercise #1 – Lumbar rolls

How – Spread your arms out to the side, keeping you knees and feet together, then roll your knees to one side then back again. Stay within your pain free range of movement, but ideally you should feel a stretching feeling as your knees get closer towards the ground. Repeat 20x

Why – This is a great warm up to stretch and improve blood flow to your lower back muscles. Completing this will allow you to determine how tight your muscles are, which can reduce your risk to any back impingement once you start to exercise.

Exercise #2 – Diagonal flute stretch (aka “knee hug” stretch)

How – Laying flat on the ground with both legs out stretches, then raise one knee towards your chest and grab with both hands, now hug this knee towards your opposite shoulder so you feel a stretch in your buttocks muscles. Hold for 30-60seconds each side

Why – There is a very low chance of you having “tight or overactive” glute muscles, but again this stretch prior to movement will stretch your gluteal and lower back muscles, while flattening your vertebrae and reducing impingement in the lumbar discs.

Exercise #3– Pelvic Tilts

How – Laying flat on the ground with your knees bent. Be prepared that this one can be a bit tricky. Start with your hands on your hips so you can feel its movement. In this position you should feel your lower back slightly off the ground, so we will start the movement by rotating your hips posteriorly/backwards so your lower back flattens into the ground, then rotate your hips anteriorly/forward so you lower back pulls further away from the ground. Repeat 10-20x

Why – There are 2 main forms of lumbo-pelvic imbalance which are ‘Anterior or Posterior Hip Tilt’. Through improving lumbo-pelvic mobility and awareness you can reduce your pain while also becoming more in-tuned with this area of your body.

Exercise #4 – Kneeling Hip flexor stretch

How – Kneeling on one knee with the other bent up at 90deg in front of you. Keep your hands on your hips and upper body straight. Tuck you hips under your body then gently push forward until you feel a stretch high up in your quadriceps/groin.

Why – Like we discussed in the article when we sit for too long our hip flexor muscles can become over active and cause your hips to rotate forward, causing lower back pain. Remember the main hip flexor muscle also inserts into your Lumbar vertebrae! So stretching this muscle group will take this pressure from your lower back and make it easier when doing the following exercise, Pelvic tilts.
There you go.
Try these stretches to relieve your back pain. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.
 
Andrew Moloney
Exercise Physiologist
Optimum Health Solutions
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