Exercises for those who want a healthy lower back

[ErinH]

I had back surgery in December, so ever since then I've been working to keep my back strong and healthy. It seems that this is quite an issue with many people; men and women.

I have a few particular exercises that you can do at home to build strength in your lower back and make your core more 'stable'.

Now, while I'm obviously no trainer, I do have experience with back pain and rehab. Thought I'd share some exercises here with you guys so that we can all be healthy together.

Obviously, I do more than the 2 mentioned here, but it's a start. I got my brother doing these and in one week he noticed he was walking 'taller'.

I perform these at least once a day... usually before bed.





Birddog:

From an all-fours position, extend one leg and the opposite arm so that they are parallel to the floor. Hold this position for seven to eight seconds, and then repeat with the opposite arm and leg.

Training Points to Emphasize

* Maintain neutral spinal alignment throughout the exercise.
* Maintain a mild contraction of the abdominal wall to help ensure spine stability.
* Avoid "hiking" the hip, which twists the spine.





Side Bridge:
Lie on one side with knees bent 90 degrees. Support the upper body by keeping the elbow directly beneath the shoulder. Being careful not to let the top hip rotate forward, engage the abdominals and use the torso to lift the hips. Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds, maintaining a neutral neck and spine position.

Common Errors:

Error: Dropping the hips
Correction: Slightly contract the gluteals and the abdominals to keep the body in good alignment.

Error: Twisting or tilting the head
Correction: Keep the head and neck aligned with the spine.

Variation: Extend the legs to increase the intensity.

 

[Sheep]

Good stuff. The back is the hardest muscle to work out properly, and arguably the most important.

SheepStar

 

[davo]

Thanks for the tips. I'm in construction and I've always tried to keep the core muscles strong(ish). You don't want to be 40 and hurting to much to do anything.

 

[Halon451]

Thanks - that is good stuff. I've been suffering with an on-again/off-again back sprain/pinched nerve thing for many years now, and am always looking for a good non-stressful exercise to help strengthen this area.

 

[aberkowitz]

Great advice. As a fellow person who has had surgery (4+ years ago now) and had to rehab my lower back, the other best pieces of advice that I can give are:

1) Stay in the best physical possible shape you can. When I started seriously working out again 2+ years ago, I dropped about 15-20 lbs and now weigh as much as I did when I was in college, I noticed that all of my occasional back soreness went away. Other than stretching I do very little direct exercise for my lower back. Doing consistent cardio work and other weight-lifting has in-turn helped strengthen my lower back and I rarely get sore anymore.

2) Stop running for exercise. The impact that running puts on your back is enormous and can be devastating. Switching to something less impactful like biking, elliptical machines, or stair machines will do wonders. Sports play is different because most of the time you're rarely running for more than a couple minutes straight.

3) Buy the right sneakers and replace them often. Take care especially if you have flat feet (as I do) that many major brands of sneakers have very high arches that will not provide enough support and can cause more back pain. New Balance and Saucony are the best brands by far. Once you see the bottoms starting to wear away, buy a new pair.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I work out regularly with weights (and ride a bike), but I find it hard to motivate myself to do back-specific excercises.

 

[Midcow2]

I have found the Deluxe ABS chair very good ...

...for both back and stomach and has low body impact

more info: http://www.one4fitness.com/modules/abchair/index.php

 

[stratman]

A physical therapist once told me: "if you don't want to ruin your back, you must maintain your weight," 15-20 lbs over and you start affecting your back and as you get older, you'll start noticing. Walking or low impact exercise, proper shoes and common sense go a long way to a healthy back.

 

[cbraver]

Deadlifts and Pendlay Rows are what I consider the key components of my back exercises. A lot of people, especially those that workout, get a strength imbalance because they overwork their chest and underwork their back. This pulls your shoulders forward, and does all kinds of things to your posture also. I also consider barbell squats an important part of my back exercises, because although they are consider a leg exercise, if your squat goes up so does core strength (which is really what we are concerned about). Finally, abdominal exercises are very important, as they support the back. Skip the many reps of situps though, and stick with weighted situps, raises and such.

I agree about the bodyfat issue. Fat is a useless thing to carry around, all it does is destroy backs.

 

[Midcow2]

Oh to be 40 again

Thanks for the tips. I'm in construction and I've always tried to keep the core muscles strong(ish). You don't want to be 40 and hurting to much to do anything.

I walk a lot now, do some strength training, and some back/stomach exercises.

I yes I try to keep my weight down but I like to cook and I cook very good so I like to eat what i cook.

 

[aberkowitz]

I yes I try to keep my weight down but I like to cook and I cook very good so I like to eat what i cook.

I love to cook as well, but I didn't start losing that last 5-7 pounds until I adjusted my diet. I've found that the key to losing and maintaining weight is to follow the general rule of eating very healthy during the week and being lax on the weekends. The effect this has had is that it's raised my metabolism and lowered my appetite for "Bad" foods- so even when I go nuts on food I end up eating less. For example- I've almost totally cut pasta out of my diet (even though I die for good italian food) and I've found that I really don't miss it, but when I do have it I eat a much smaller portion.

The best thing that I ever did was get advice from my wife's personal trainer on diet. She laid out a great eating plan for me (similar to my wife's, just larger amounts of certain foods) that I stick to pretty religiously during the week. I still generally eat whatever I want, but I'm much more conscious about proportions now and it's helped maintain my weight even if I'm unable to work out due to work.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Important: DO NOT attempt deadlifts or squats without a qualified trainer!! Trying to learn these from a book or video is a recipe for disaster. Nothing will destroy your back faster than a deadlift or squat without the proper form.

 

[Midcow2]

you are absolutely right about proper diet

I love to cook as well, but I didn't start losing that last 5-7 pounds until I adjusted my diet. I've found that the key to losing and maintaining weight is to follow the general rule of eating very healthy during the week and being lax on the weekends. The effect this has had is that it's raised my metabolism and lowered my appetite for "Bad" foods- so even when I go nuts on food I end up eating less. For example- I've almost totally cut pasta out of my diet (even though I die for good italian food) and I've found that I really don't miss it, but when I do have it I eat a much smaller portion.

The best thing that I ever did was get advice from my wife's personal trainer on diet. She laid out a great eating plan for me (similar to my wife's, just larger amounts of certain foods) that I stick to pretty religiously during the week. I still generally eat whatever I want, but I'm much more conscious about proportions now and it's helped maintain my weight even if I'm unable to work out due to work.

Look at the Sonoma diest. A good starting point and not really a diet.

Stay away from sugar and white flour or white bread; use wild rice and wheat bread.

Also like your audio system limit the dBs to a reasonable level .... PORTION CONTROL.

We have lots of fresh seafood here YUM!

 

[jeffsg4mac]

The wife bought me a bowflex for our anniversary and I have been using it pretty faithfully for the last 2 months. I had chronic lower back pain and it is all but gone now. In addition I dropped from a 34 to a 31 inch waist, lowered my blood pressure back to normal, and I look pretty darn good too Exercise is the key for back pain.

 

[Halon451]

Portion Control?

You guys are mad.

Who's going to argue with this?

 

[MDS]

I broke my back about ten years ago (compression fracture of T7 and T8) and every couple of years the injury comes back to haunt me. A few years after it happenend, I had an incident where I couldn't put any weight on my right leg. The chiropractor straightened me out and since then I've been more consistent with stretching and doing ab/back work to keep it strong.

I've always done crunches but I now also use the Torso Track. That thing is brutal and I wouldn't recommend it if you are just starting to get back into shape but once you have reasonably strong abs it is excellent. It works your abs and lower back and even gives the triceps a pump. I haven't had the tensing up of my back in years now. Yet your body remembers past injuries and I have to crack my back and neck sometimes if I sit or stand for very long periods of time.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Wow. That all looks like a lot of work.

I think I'll just slouch on the couch.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I broke my back about ten years ago (compression fracture of T7 and T8).

Ouch! That hurts just to think about.

 

[MDS]

Ouch! That hurts just to think about.(re compression fracture)

It's not good but not really as bad as it sounds. The doctor told me it's not the kind of injury that paralyzes you but it is close. By the way...wear your safety gear, the helmut saved me).

Basically I slammed my head into a giant boulder. I turned my head so that I would land square on the top of my helmet rather than slamming my forehead against the rock. I saw the X-Ray...basically if you look very carefully you can see that T7 is ever so slightly smaller than T8. The force of the impact slammed T7 into T8 and compressed it. Fortunately no damage to the discs but as I said your body remembers...

 

[aberkowitz]

The wife bought me a bowflex for our anniversary and I have been using it pretty faithfully for the last 2 months. I had chronic lower back pain and it is all but gone now. In addition I dropped from a 34 to a 31 inch waist, lowered my blood pressure back to normal, and I look pretty darn good too Exercise is the key for back pain.

Congrats!!! Next thing you should get yourself is a Polar heart monitor:

http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Womens-Heart-Monitor-Watch/dp/B000WPCMMM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1208982542&sr=8-1
or
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Monitor-Watch-Pepper/dp/B0009HN5Y2/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1208982542&sr=8-5

I received one for my birthday last summer, and it's amazing how much more efficient they make your workout. After using it for a few weeks I realized that I was actually working too hard for short bursts on my cardio (becoming anaerobic) but not keeping my heart rate high for long periods of time. It also allowed me to make sure I was actually working hard enough on weightlifting only days- I'd actually start doing jumping jacks to get the heart up before lifting.

One really cool thing to do is to keep the monitor going for an extra 45-60 minutes after your workout while you cool down and see how many extra calories you burn.