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Monday, July 21, 2008

Addressing Low Back Pain - Part II

Exercises to strengthen your core muscles and help alleviate back pain.

The causes of back pain can be quite numerous and it's difficult to pin-point it to one. It's a general agreement between Therapy professionals that strengthening the core muscles is a good defense. These muscles include your abdominals, obliques, glutes, and the many muscles that surround your spine.

Also, if an individual is carrying excessive weight in the abdominal region it puts additional strain on the back muscles. It is extremely helpful to start an exercise regimen to decrease the added weight thus decreasing the unnecessary pressure on the back. Remember to consult your physician before starting an exercise program.


Here are some suggested exercises to start with in strengthening your core muscles.














Figures obtained from www.physsportsmed.com.

It's hard to verbally explain an exercise without pictures so I've located a great website that is very helpful at http://www.back.com/articles-exercises.html. It provides video's of many exercises you can do starting very simple and leading to more complex ones. Hope this helps!


Andy - I'm glad to hear that your back pain has been alleviated a bit! If you can stand it, you could also try sleeping with a small pillow under your knees. By lifting the knees you decrease the space between the small of your back and the bed so sometimes that helps. Good to hear from you!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Addressing Low Back Pain - Part I

Low back pain can be either acute (temporary) or chronic (lasting for a long period of time) but can be treated with stretching and exercise.

Part I of this treatment involves stretches that can aid in relieving symptoms. Make sure not to deviate from the directions next to the pictures. Doing so can increase tension and pain in the back.












































Figures obtained from www.physsportsmed.com.

Stay tuned for Part II. This will include exercises that can help strengthen the core muscles.