Get Rid of Back Pain with These Helpful Stretches and Exercises

Stretching and exercise are important elements of maintaining core strength overall, and the health of your spinal area plays an integral role in living healthy and pain-free.

When you neglect or injure any area along your spine, if you don’t address it, what could be a temporary issue can easily develop into chronic back pain.

From general practitioners to physical therapists and chiropractors, stretching and exercise are likely to be the first two recommendations made in helping you get rid of back pain.

In today’s post, we’re going to share the benefits of stretches and exercise and how a few simple additions to your daily routine can help alleviate your back pain.

Benefits of Stretching the Back

Stretching your back on a daily basis can effectively (and nearly instantly) reduce tension in spine-supporting muscles. It can also counteract the tightening that occurs from poor and slouched posture after hours in front of the computer or lack of exercise and conditioning.

You will find that daily stretching gradually improves your overall range of motion and mobility levels, and as a regular part of your pre- and post-exercise routines, you are also helping to protect yourself against debilitating back pain.

What Stretches Are Best for My Condition?

Although your doctor will be best able to advise and adapt a stretching routine to accommodate your individual level of flexibility and pain, utilizing such things as a chair, a wall, and foam blocks, there are a few commonly prescribed stretches for low back pain.

Here are five of them:

• Knees-to-Chest
• Kneeling Lunch Stretch
• Side-bend Stretch (either on the floor or in a chair)
• Spinal Rotations or Twists (also on the floor or in a chair)
• Cat / Cow Stretch

Note, any stretch should be performed in a slow, methodical manner. Quick, jerky movements can place additional stress and unwanted strain on your spine.

Talk to your chiropractor about what modifications or additions would be right for alleviating your personal neck, shoulder, and lower back pain.

Exercises Benefiting Your Back

A strong back means you have the musculature to maintain squared shoulders and a pain-free neck and shoulder area. Middle and lower back weakness can lead to lower back pain. Even frontal plane core exercises (like crunches) can help prevent soreness and strain.

Muscle balance from both front and back strength will aid in spinal alignment, and help keep your back injury free.

Which Exercises Are Safe for Me?

Fortunately, modern medical research is coming to accept that most low back pain can be successfully treated without invasive procedures. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke shared the opinion just this past March that “exercise may be the most effective way to speed recovery from low back pain and help strengthen back and abdominal muscles.”

Again, every exercise can be adapted to your personal condition, and may require additional equipment or household items. Here are five common and relatively safe daily exercises:

• Abdominal Crunches
• Planks
• Bench Presses
• Reverse Flyes or Dumbbell Rows
• Bicycle Maneuver (lying on your back, not riding a machine)

Remember, for every exercise, it isn’t the amount of weight or speed with which you perform, but your form and balance. Strengthening can happen with zero weight or movement at all, in fact.

Last, keep in mind that when you’ve suffered back pain for more than three months, it may take just as long – if not longer – to successfully alleviate your symptoms. Your customized physical therapy program should give you an idea of how long it will take to achieve pain-free mobility.

In severe cases, you may be prescribed a routine which helps you manage incurable conditions like degenerative disease.

If you have further questions about how a chiropractic care program incorporating stretching and exercise can help, consult an experienced South Florida chiropractor!

About the Author:

Dr. Singer has been a practicing chiropractor for more than 20 years, and USA Health & Therapy has been around since 2004. Over the course of his career, Singer has helped tens of thousands of people with all kinds of issues by using a wide variety of treatment strategies. He has extensive knowledge of chiropractic modalities, including Gonstead, Diversified, Thompson Drop Table, and Activator, and in 1997 he earned a special adjunctive Chiropractic Certification in Spinal Trauma (CCST) to better provide care for car crash victims. Dr. Singer is licensed to practice chiropractic medicine in both Florida and New York.