Exercise for Back Pain: The Dos and Don'ts

Letting back pain stop you from doing the activities you most enjoy is no way to live. In truth, adding exercise to your daily routine will actually discourage back pain since it strengthens the core muscles of the body. Exercise for back pain could essentially prevent your back from ever hurting again.

Exercising regularly along with living a healthy lifestyle can possibly counteract some of the harm that produces back pain. Negative factors such as smoking, poor muscle tone, excess weight, and a sedentary lifestyle all contribute to a weak back and chronic pain.

Playing It Safe: Follow These Exercises To Avoid Back Pain

There are many exercises and activities that you can integrate into your daily exercise routine that will keep you fit and healthy while still offering protection for your back and provide relief from tension at the same time. Keep in mind to always properly warm up and take it slow when introducing a new exercise to your body. Here are a few ideas:

- Use an Exercise Ball

Several people find that performing exercises with an exercise ball is an effective tool when it comes to training the core muscles of the body. Exercising your upper body parts with free weights while sitting on an exercise ball is a wonderful option. The innate unsteadiness of sitting on the exercise ball stimulates more muscle tissue.

- Low Impact Activities and Sports

Try to do activities and sports that present a low risk factor of injury or impact and do not jerk the back. These may include elliptical trainers, biking, swimming, or simply walking.

Exercises To Avoid If You Are Experiencing Back Pain

It's not critical to avoid exercise altogether if you have back pain. However, you should be aware that certain sports or activities are not safe to perform once your back has already been hurt.

- High Impact Sports

Try to avoid any sports that may induce stress or cause an unexpected blow to your back. Any sports that involve jumping or twisting such as football, snow-based sports, soccer, weight lifting, or volleyball should be avoided - at least for now. Other activities that may jerk the back such as trampoline jumping or rollerblading should be put on hold as well.

- Certain Stretches

Do not perform any stretches and/or exercises that require you to raise your legs while keeping them straight, arching your back, twisting your hips, or touching your toes. Also, avoid sit-ups or crunches since they put a significant amount of strain on the back.

Warning Signals You've Overdone It

Be fully aware of what your body is telling you and listen to it. You should feel good both inside and out after exercising if done correctly. That's not to say you won't be somewhat tired and sore. However, if you are not able to stand up straight, sleep well at night, or must alter the way you sit or stand; you've done too much and overdid it. Over-exercising may essentially be counterproductive to not only your back, but to your overall health.

The best way to figure out if your pain stems from a good workout or from overdoing it, is whether or not you are still hurting while resting. It's typical for vigorously exercised muscle tissue to feel somewhat stiff and sore; however, this should disappear within a couple of days. If it doesn't, it's likely you went a bit overboard in terms of exercising.

In the long run, exercise for back pain will improve the integrity of your core muscles along with your general health. Assess your current condition, make a plan, and get started today.