Monday 9 April 2012

How to Relieve Lower Back Pain with Exercise?

How to relieve lower back pain? exercise provides more long term relief than any back pills that your doctor can give you. Here you will learn how exercise can help rid you of those pains for good!

back pain

Lower back pain is a common problem for Americans. Around 90% of people in the United States have suffered from the problem at least once in their lives. This problem is commonly not a disease, but rather a symptom that occurs from other health problems. Most of the time, the uneasy feeling is generated by no specific reason and just disappears.

If you are one of the millions of people that suffer from lower back pain, then you need to know that exercise can do wonders for you. When it comes to relieving lower back pain, exercise provides more long term relief than any back pills that your doctor can give you. The fact is, pills only serve to mask the problem by providing temporary relief of the pain, but the problem that is causing much of the pain is still there. Exercise will strengthen the muscles that support your back and improve flexibility thus greatly reducing the chances of future attacks.

It's important to remember that, before you start any training program, you should make sure that you are physically capable of exercising without risking your health - your doctor or health professional can reassure you with regard to this point.

In addition to having a doctor check on the general status of your health, you should also have them check to make sure that the cause of your lower back pain isn't an issue that requires medical intervention.

Once you are certain that you can safely exercise, learning the right exercises for lower back pain can help you to lead a fuller life.

The key to reducing lower back pain is to strengthen your core muscles. This means that you need to train your abdominal muscles as well as your back muscles.

When training your core there are two key things to remember. Firstly, you should train your core at most every other day, and secondly, you should do a wide variety of exercises.

You should be doing a three fold program of exercise which includes aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises. Aerobic exercise like walking and bike riding will begin to get your body conditioned properly because it strengthens your heart and lightly works your muscles. Resistance exercise like weight lifting will strengthen the muscles that support your back. Stretching exercises will increase flexibility giving your back a greater range of motion. Your doctor can guide you as to when and how much of each type of exercise you should be getting.

For people with lower back pain, the best aerobic exercises to do are low impact ones like swimming, walking and bike riding. Jogging, dance aerobics and step aerobics all produce repeated impact on your back and on your knee and hip joints as well. In order to get in good condition, start out with 15 minutes of light aerobic work per day, 2 to 3 times per week, and then gradually build yourself up to 30 to 40 minutes per day, 4 to 5 times per week.

You should be working enough to raise your heart rate to be in between 65% to 85% of your maximal heart rate. You determine your maximal heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Regardless of whether you are walking, bike riding or doing any other aerobic exercise, always maintain good posture. This means sit up strait, stand strait and do not slouch or lean forward. Good posture is essential to any good exercise program.

When it comes to resistance exercising, you always want to concentrate on the abdominal muscles. These muscles play a major part in giving your lower back support and the stronger they are, the more relief for your back. Also important is to do exercises that are designed to specifically strengthen the lower back muscles themselves. You will best benefit from working each muscle group 2 to 3 times per week. You may want to hire a qualified fitness trainer to help get you on your way by designing a resistance program that is right for you.

Remember that while resistance exercise is great for strengthening the targeted muscles being worked, there should never be any pain involved. Some discomfort should be present in the muscles being worked while performing the exercises for them, but should subside very shortly after completion of the exercise. If there is any pain during the exercises or if discomfort persists for some time after, it is a sign that something is wrong and exercising should be discontinued and your doctor should be consulted immediately.

Remember that your body needs proper nutrition as well as adequate rest in order to perform at an optimum level. As we get older it becomes increasingly important to maintain our physical capabilities by challenging our bodies through exercise.

By eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and training your core muscles you can greatly improve the quality of your life by significantly reducing your lower back pain.


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