Back Pain Article and exercises

A robust back is one that can maintain a position or move through multiple positions, pain free, in static and dynamic environments. Imagine a work day that requires you to sit for 8-10 hours per day. After work, can you transition to walking or standing for the next 30 minutes to an hour without back pain? When we maintain a prolonged sitting position, wether slouched or with perfect upright posture the muscles around our hips and spine will adapt in length and tone, to that position. Perfect sitting position cannot change this fact. When you then stand or walk your back has to be able to tolerate the stress that comes with that change in position. An adaptable, robust back can move out of one posture and into another pain free.

Improving the robustness of your back is a matter of realizing a modest increase in its available range of motion and necessary stability. In practice an adaptable back is able to bend forward and backward without pain, discomfort or trepidation. Add spinal rotation and side bending without incident and your back is on its way to being adaptable to your daily rigors. But does it have strength with those motions? Can you bend forward to pick up something off the floor that weighs 8.6lbs (gallon of milk)? Can you put a stack of plates away above your head? Can you do either of those while twisting at the waist? All of these motions violate some of the cardinal rules of proper posture, asymmetrical spinal positioning, not bending at the knees and/or facing the object you want to lift. But shouldn’t your back have the capacity to twist, turn, lift, and bend when it is just your body weight or when manipulating relatively light objects?

Achieving an adaptable back is possible, even for someone that has a history of back pain. To start, you should begin with body weight movements only. If your back gets stiff from running, biking, lifting weights, or prolonged sitting and standing, you do not need to add intensity to your movement. To narrow down the infinite choices of body weight movements, you will need to be mindful of where your movement limitations are most acute. Does walking hurt your back? You most likely have difficulty with moving your low back into extension. Does sitting hurt your back? The you are having trouble moving your back into flexion. If turning your back to either side is painful, then you have found your limitation.

Modified Cat-Camel

As a starting point for developing a robust back, I like to suggest basic human movements that are simple and effective. Consider starting with a standard cat/camel, but with two notable changes. Begin on your hands and knees, hands shoulder-width apart and knees hip-width apart. Begin by gently dropping your belly towards the floor. If this causes pain, back out of the range a bit until it is pain-free. First notable change; As you drop you belly towards the floor, drop your chin towards your chest and take a long inhale through your nose. Then reverse the position of your back by rounding it upwards towards the ceiling. Second notable change; As you round your back towards the ceiling, gently lift your chin up and fully exhale through your nose, using your stomach muscles to help exhale. Try repeating this motion for 5 minutes, focusing on lengthening your inhale and exhale while increasing your range of motion. Once this can be done comfortably, we need to add side to side motion into the equation.