I can give you a first hand account about how much back pain sucks. I’ve been in car crashes that slipped disks in my neck, and I’ve also had a few injuries to the disks in my back. One of those were out of my control, but the back injury could have been avoided. Today, I’m going to talk to you about how to make your back stronger and keep it healthy with back pain exercise.
It’s easy to take for granted how much you actually use your back muscles every day. I, for example, managed to re-injure myself just moving a small turtle across the road last week. You also use your back in things as simple as squatting to pick something up off the floor, or carrying your groceries. Not to mention the fact that your back has over a hundred muscles in it.
By making your back stronger you can nip back pain in the bud. You having a strong back also improves you both athletically and aesthetically.
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Now, I’m a big fan of heavy compound movements like the deadlift for overall health. But today I’m going to tell you about mostly bodyweight exercises to stabilize and strengthen your back.
Lunges
First up we have lunges. To preform this move contract your abs gently and place your hands on your hips. From this position, you need to take a big step forward and sink down until your knee is just past a ninety degree angle. Then, you return to the starting position without pausing. Repeat this about twelve times with each legs.
The lunge helps you learn whole body control and stabilization. They’ll be tough at first, and really wear out your hamstrings and butt, both of which are stabilizing muscles. This will help you with walking, running, and any time you have to go up an incline or steps.
Planks
Planking is a great way to strengthen your back muscles and core. To perform this exercise all you need to do is raise up onto your elbows and toes. Keep your stomach tight and your arms bent at a ninety degree angle. Make sure your butt stays as high up (or a slight bit higher) as your shoulders. If you start to sag your hips forward, you’re doing it wrong.
Hold this for ten seconds to start with, but increase the time as you get stronger. If you can look under your body and have a clear view to your feet in a straight line, you’re likely doing the exercise right. And as I said above, don’t let your chest get too low to the ground or your hips. Also, if you lift your butt TOO high you’ll not get much out of this workout. Remember, you can injure yourself doing any exercise incorrectly. Put the time in to make sure you do these right.
Partial Crunches
Partial crunches are an easy back pain exercise you can do to strengthen your abs and avoid aggravating your injury. To perform this exercise, lie down with your back flat and rest your legs and feet on a chair. Tighten your stomach muscles and raise your shoulders off of the floor. Make sure to breath out as you lift, and don’t use your arms to pull your head or neck forward. Hold for a second at the top, and then lower back down. Perform these exercises for eight to twelve reps for as many sets as you can manage.
A lot of back pain can be attributed partially to weak ab muscles. These muscles anchor the front of your spine, and if they’re weak, your back is weak. Work these as much as you work any other part of your core. This will keep your other supporting muscles from having to compensate for them and reduce your chance of injury.
Side Planks
Continuing the theme of strong abs for strong backs, this back pain exercise is in the same vein. To preform the side plank, start with your elbow directly under your shoulder. Then, using your butt and ab muscles, squeeze and raise yourself off of the ground. Hold for fifteen to twenty seconds before alternating sides.
Like I said, this exercise doesn’t work your back so much as your sides. This doesn’t mean it’s not important for you to do, though. It builds the endurance in your obliques, a muscle underdeveloped in most people.
Glute Bridge
To perform the glute bridge, lie down on your back and place your arms to the side. Make sure your knees are bent, and your heels stay on the ground throughout the motion. Lift your hps up off the ground until your knees, hips, and shoulders are in pretty much a straight line. Hold at the top of the workout for at least a second.
The butt is a huge stabilizer of the lower back. You keep your glute max strong, and it’ll keep your back healthy. This is probably my second most recommended back pain exercise
The Skinny on Back Pain Exercise
So, my favorite back pain exercise is here is probably the plank, since it helped me so much. Performing all of these will help you in the long run, though. But what may be even more important is just to make sure you get up and moving as much as you can. The discs in your spine, some of the most commonly injured parts, need daily exercise. The fluid in your discs is constantly filling up and reducing when you move, which keeps them healthy.
In the future I’ll go into weighted exercises that are good for strengthening your back. But I’ll be discussing some that you’ll almost certainly need your own home gym for. To see what kind of equipment I’d suggest for starting off a gym of your own: Click Here.
Make sure to stretch at least a little bit before you exercise, because starting with a cold back means you’ll be tighter and more vunerable to damage. Start with easy motions like hip rotations and avoid aggresive bending like toe touches or any variation of such.
