Exercising to Alleviate Back Pain

Sounds counterintuitive right? “If I exercise while my back is screaming, how will this help?” Many of our day to day aches and pains are symptoms from lack of physical exercise, sedentary jobs, driving in the car, being hunched over a keyboard, the list goes on. Your body is telling you to get up and move while the pain is telling you otherwise. Commonly, due to these long periods of sedentary; your muscles begin shortening, tightening, and lastly causing those dull aches and pains. One thing I like to ask my clients who have back pain is if they have tight hamstrings. I ask them to do a simple exercise, which you can do yourself right now, of standing up and trying to touch their toes. 9/10 times they are unable to do this task because the backs of their legs are so tight. Now, the reason tight hamstrings lead to low back pain is that there are so many ligaments, joints, tendons that connect the low back to the legs. When we are sitting we are disrupting the natural elongation of these muscles, therefore overtime causing tightness and pain.

Here’s another example, the knee pain you’re currently feeling is from lack of use from the legs as well as excess body weight. When clients come to me saying they suffer from knee pain I ask when the last time they were on a simple walking routine, in which they usually tell me years, months, etc. Your body is sending signals to your brain through nerve endings saying “Hey, let’s get up and move!” The excess weight can cause severe pressure on the joints and ligaments surrounding the knee. In order to alleviate this, we must begin a fitness and nutrition regimen to take off the extra weight.

One more example of how exercise can alleviate pain is through corrective postural exercise. We are constantly hunched over the keyboard and throughout time; our shoulders roll forward, our neck droops forward, and our back starts to round. This is not the normal posture for humans which is another factor leading to body pain. This is a habit that needs to be reversed through exercise, postural alignment, and functional training.

When finding the right exercise routine to begin, make sure you are cleared by your doctor to ensure those aches and pains aren’t something that needs immediate medical attention. Rather than jumping right into a routine, take it slow! Start with walking, stretching, and light weight-bearing activities. This will begin to stimulate the elongation of the muscles, the strength around the muscles (ligaments, tendons, joints), and corrective postural alignment. Another tip I give my clients is to simply set a timer at their desk every hour on the hour. Get up and WALK around; fill up your water bottle, do some light stretching, go to the bathroom, points is: GET UP AND MOVE! You might want to also consider a standing desk which many companies are gravitating to (which is AWESOME)! If they haven’t yet, ASK!