Posts Tagged ‘Lower Back Pain’
Copyright (c) 2008 Nancy Rishworth
Are you suffering from a recent muscle injury? Whether you tore or strained a muscle exercising or are recovering from an injury, you know the pain and frustration of a slow recovery. Fortunately, our bodies have amazing recuperative abilities. We can help that recuperation along by working with some therapeutic exercises.
Therapeutic exercises are a series of exercises that are prescribed with the intention of correcting muscle impairment, improving your musculoskeletal function or your overall health. These exercises are often highly focused on a specific muscle group, but provide the benefit of overall muscle relaxation and increase flexibility.
They may consist of several procedures. As part of the exercise regimen, you may receive instruction on strengthening muscles, stretching muscles, deep breathing, massage and relaxation or meditation techniques. The aim of these exercises is to achieve the following benefits:
- Increase flexibility
- Strengthen muscles
- Improve or reduce joint and muscle pain
- Deepen and regulate breathing
- Increase cardiovascular fitness
- Improve posture
These therapeutic exercises are especially beneficial for people that are suffering from lower back pain. With persistence and repetition, therapeutic exercises aimed at strengthening your core muscles can help you overcome your persistent lower back pain. Whether you’ve suffered an injury or merely carrying some extra weight, strengthening this muscle group can add to your quality of life. Not only will you increase flexibility, but you’ll find you have greater energy and stamina as a result.
Putting together a therapeutic exercise routine is not as complicated as it sounds. Often, a physical therapist or personal trainer will prescribe a set of exercises to help strengthen your muscles and increase flexibility, or you could find an exercise regime that focuses on helping people achieve strength and get back into shape.
What is important is consistency. Whether you are working with a prescribed exercise regime or you are performing exercises with the goal of increased flexibility, it’s essential to perform these exercises on a regular basis. Some of the simple core exercises can be performed each day in a matter of minutes, others can easily be incorporated into a warm-up or simple exercise routine.
There’s nothing more frustrating than being slowed down by muscle pains or injury. Fortunately, if you take a proactive approach, you can quickly change this pain into gain. All you need are a few therapeutic exercises, a little bit of practice, and you’ll soon have a new lease on life.
By: Nancy Rishworth
About the Author:
Are you suffering from a recent muscle injury? Whether you tore or strained a muscle exercising or are recovering from an injury, you know the pain and frustration of a slow recovery. Fortunately, our bodies have amazing recuperative abilities. We can help that recuperation along by working with some therapeutic exercises.
Therapeutic exercises are a series of exercises that are prescribed with the intention of correcting muscle impairment, improving your musculoskeletal function or your overall health. These exercises are often highly focused on a specific muscle group, but provide the benefit of overall muscle relaxation and increase flexibility.
They may consist of several procedures. As part of the exercise regimen, you may receive instruction on strengthening muscles, stretching muscles, deep breathing, massage and relaxation or meditation techniques. The aim of these exercises is to achieve the following benefits:
- Increase flexibility
- Strengthen muscles
- Improve or reduce joint and muscle pain
- Deepen and regulate breathing
- Increase cardiovascular fitness
- Improve posture
These therapeutic exercises are especially beneficial for people that are suffering from lower back pain. With persistence and repetition, therapeutic exercises aimed at strengthening your core muscles can help you overcome your persistent lower back pain. Whether you’ve suffered an injury or merely carrying some extra weight, strengthening this muscle group can add to your quality of life. Not only will you increase flexibility, but you’ll find you have greater energy and stamina as a result.
Putting together a therapeutic exercise routine is not as complicated as it sounds. Often, a physical therapist or personal trainer will prescribe a set of exercises to help strengthen your muscles and increase flexibility, or you could find an exercise regime that focuses on helping people achieve strength and get back into shape.
What is important is consistency. Whether you are working with a prescribed exercise regime or you are performing exercises with the goal of increased flexibility, it’s essential to perform these exercises on a regular basis. Some of the simple core exercises can be performed each day in a matter of minutes, others can easily be incorporated into a warm-up or simple exercise routine.
There’s nothing more frustrating than being slowed down by muscle pains or injury. Fortunately, if you take a proactive approach, you can quickly change this pain into gain. All you need are a few therapeutic exercises, a little bit of practice, and you’ll soon have a new lease on life.
By: Nancy Rishworth
About the Author:
Nancy Rishworth, grew up dancing and became a qualified Aerobics and Fitness & Personal Trainer. She is also a qualified Naturopath having studied various healing modalities through healthy eating, herbal remedies, vitamins, massage & exercise. Her Flexibilty Plus Workout Program improves flexibility, strength and overall health. For nutritional info and other core strength and cardio exercise tips and guidelines go to http://www.flexibilityplus.com/” href=”http://www.flexibilityplus.com/”>www.FlexibilityPlus.com
If you want to create the best core workout, you need both ab and back exercises. When most people think about the core, their first thought is ab exercises, but ab exercises by themselves won’t make a complete core workout. When you include lower back exercises and ab exercises in your workout, you will have a well rounded and balanced core.
Ab exercises help you to generate power moving forwards and prevent the spine from moving too far backwards. Some of the best ab exercises are planks, crunches on a ball, side planks, sit ups, and leg raises.
Planks are an isometric ab exercise in which you simply balance on your elbow and toes and hold that position. Side planks are also an isometric ab exercise in which you are balanced on one elbow and your feet. Crunches on a stability ball offer increased range of motion when compared to the floor and can help to improve balance. Sit ups are a classic ab exercise and they are great for athletes, but they can put more pressure on the lower back than crunches on a ball. Lastly, leg raises are also tough on the lower back, but they are great for improving core stability and pelvic control.
Lower back exercises help you to generate power moving backwards and while lifting and prevent the spine from moving too far forwards. Lower back exercises are just as important as ab exercises for preventing lower back pain.
Some of the best lower back exercises are back extensions on a ball, back extensions on the floor, and back extensions on a slant board. You can add a rotational movement to all of the previous exercises to add a more challenging element. In addition to the back extension movement, you can also do the stiff leg dead lift or the conventional dead lift.
The dead lift position and motion is important for a well rounded core workout, because many lower back injuries occur when you are lifting. So, it makes sense to practice the lifting motion and position during your core workouts.
The abdominal muscles and lower back muscles help to rotate and side bend the spine, and they both help to stabilize the lumbar spine and lower back. Rotational exercises are very important to any core workout. Functional activities and athletic activities happen in multiple directions and multiple planes. Generally, our bodies are weakest in rotational directions, so it is important to include rotational movements in your core workout. Some of the best rotational exercises are the Russian twist, standing cable lifts or chops, and standing cable rotations.
Both the abs and lower back are important for core workouts. So, if you really want well-rounded core workouts, think abs and back.
By: Charles A. Inniss, Jr. DPT
About the Author:
Ab exercises help you to generate power moving forwards and prevent the spine from moving too far backwards. Some of the best ab exercises are planks, crunches on a ball, side planks, sit ups, and leg raises.
Planks are an isometric ab exercise in which you simply balance on your elbow and toes and hold that position. Side planks are also an isometric ab exercise in which you are balanced on one elbow and your feet. Crunches on a stability ball offer increased range of motion when compared to the floor and can help to improve balance. Sit ups are a classic ab exercise and they are great for athletes, but they can put more pressure on the lower back than crunches on a ball. Lastly, leg raises are also tough on the lower back, but they are great for improving core stability and pelvic control.
Lower back exercises help you to generate power moving backwards and while lifting and prevent the spine from moving too far forwards. Lower back exercises are just as important as ab exercises for preventing lower back pain.
Some of the best lower back exercises are back extensions on a ball, back extensions on the floor, and back extensions on a slant board. You can add a rotational movement to all of the previous exercises to add a more challenging element. In addition to the back extension movement, you can also do the stiff leg dead lift or the conventional dead lift.
The dead lift position and motion is important for a well rounded core workout, because many lower back injuries occur when you are lifting. So, it makes sense to practice the lifting motion and position during your core workouts.
The abdominal muscles and lower back muscles help to rotate and side bend the spine, and they both help to stabilize the lumbar spine and lower back. Rotational exercises are very important to any core workout. Functional activities and athletic activities happen in multiple directions and multiple planes. Generally, our bodies are weakest in rotational directions, so it is important to include rotational movements in your core workout. Some of the best rotational exercises are the Russian twist, standing cable lifts or chops, and standing cable rotations.
Both the abs and lower back are important for core workouts. So, if you really want well-rounded core workouts, think abs and back.
By: Charles A. Inniss, Jr. DPT
About the Author:
Charles A. Inniss, Jr. has a Doctorate Degree in Physical Therapy and is a Certified Personal Trainer. He is dedicated to helping people to live healthier happier lives.
Visit his website to learn the best core exercises and the best lower back exercises
Forget about crunches, sit ups, or leg raises. The drawing-in maneuver to engage the transversus abdominus is the most important core exercise to master if you want to develop core stability.
If you’ve never heard of the transversus abdominus I wouldn’t be surprised. It the deepest of the abdominal muscles and so you can’t see it. As its name implies, it runs across the abdomen. It is often referred to as your natural girdle because it’s only job is to brace your lower back and pull in your belly button, like a girdle.
Why is targeting the Transverse Abdominus so important?
A group of physiotherapists in Australia studied back pain by looking at muscle coordination patterns. They wanted to see if there were difference between people with no lower back pain and those with chronic lower back pain. What they found is that when healthy people with no lower back pain move their arms or legs the transverse abdominus is the first muscle to fire.
That’s right… If you move your arm, this core muscle contracts before your arm contracts. Your body is naturally wired to be stable around the center first before you can move.
In contrast, people with chronic lower back pain displayed an inability to contract the core muscles before the arm muscles. When you start to move before your spine is stable, more pressure is placed on the joints of the lower back.
This is one reason core training has become so popular. Core training can help to stabilize the pelvis and lower back while taking pressure off the spine.
The drawing-in maneuver is very easy to do. Simply pull in your belly button so that it moves towards your back. Hold for 10 seconds, relax and repeat 5-10 times.
This simple core exercise can help to improve your core stability and it’s the most important core exercise to master!
By: Charles A. Inniss, Jr. DPT
About the Author:
If you’ve never heard of the transversus abdominus I wouldn’t be surprised. It the deepest of the abdominal muscles and so you can’t see it. As its name implies, it runs across the abdomen. It is often referred to as your natural girdle because it’s only job is to brace your lower back and pull in your belly button, like a girdle.
Why is targeting the Transverse Abdominus so important?
A group of physiotherapists in Australia studied back pain by looking at muscle coordination patterns. They wanted to see if there were difference between people with no lower back pain and those with chronic lower back pain. What they found is that when healthy people with no lower back pain move their arms or legs the transverse abdominus is the first muscle to fire.
That’s right… If you move your arm, this core muscle contracts before your arm contracts. Your body is naturally wired to be stable around the center first before you can move.
In contrast, people with chronic lower back pain displayed an inability to contract the core muscles before the arm muscles. When you start to move before your spine is stable, more pressure is placed on the joints of the lower back.
This is one reason core training has become so popular. Core training can help to stabilize the pelvis and lower back while taking pressure off the spine.
The drawing-in maneuver is very easy to do. Simply pull in your belly button so that it moves towards your back. Hold for 10 seconds, relax and repeat 5-10 times.
This simple core exercise can help to improve your core stability and it’s the most important core exercise to master!
By: Charles A. Inniss, Jr. DPT
About the Author:
Charles A. Inniss, Jr. has a Doctorate Degree in Physical Therapy and is a Certified Personal Trainer. He is dedicated to helping people to live healthier happier lives.
Visit his website for Free Pictures of 100 Ab Exercises and Free Ab Workouts
