There is a whole host of reasons why exercise and stretches should be part of everyone’s routine. For patients experiencing lower back pain, exercise can relieve the discomfort and can add strength to the body.
Physical therapists have created exercise routines that can target specific parts of the body for pain relief and restoration of physiological functions. Patients experiencing symptoms of conditions like sciatica and other severe or acute back pain are advised to perform these routines.
Although it is somewhat counter-intuitive to do exercise while experiencing back pain, doctors and chiropractors actually discourage bed rest and only advise patients to do it at a maximum of 48 hours.
Sciatica and lower back pain
The manifestation of sciatica ranges from numbness of the leg to an electric jolt-like pain in the lower back or buttocks. Patients usually experience this on only one side of the body. Sciatica is considered a symptom for a more serious medical problem.
The pain that patients feel originates from the irritation of the sciatic nerve: a large nerve that runs from the lower back of the body down to the buttocks and back leg. Lower back pain near a kidney can also be sciatica.
Since sciatica is a manifestation of an underlying medical condition, you should first consult a medical practitioner before adopting any exercise routine. This is to make sure that you are doing the right exercises and ensures that the routine will not worsen your condition.
Moreover, properly doing an exercise form is more important than simply performing it. A routine meant to target lower back pain can only be effective if done with the correctly. For this reason, it is advisable that patients should first learn the exercises with the aid of an expert such as a physical therapist.
There are several exercise forms targeted for specific causes of lower back pain: however, the following are the general routines of lower back pain exercises that can be performed by anyone experiencing the condition.
Walking or low impact cardio exercise
It has long been known that walking is the cheapest and easiest form of exercise. The benefits of regular walking exercise are quite numerous that it is advised for almost any physical and medical conditions. It is no wonder that walking is also the number one highly suggested exercise for persons experiencing lower back pain.
Walking is a cardio exercise that strengthens the muscles and improves stamina. Moreover, it develops strength in the lower spine and flexibility of muscles, both of which can relieve, at the same time prevent occurrences of lower back pain.
A 15 to 30 minutes walking incorporated into your daily routine can contribute wonders to your overall health.
Stretching Exercises
As spine doctors put it, the spine is like a ship mast that can only support so much stress. In fact, it can only sustain around 35 pounds of stress. Most people weigh more than this. One would wonder what keeps the spine from breaking down and the answer to that is the supporting structure around it.
The muscles surrounding the spine are like the ropes on the mast, it helps absorb the stress on the spine. When muscles around the spine are not strong enough or not properly developed, this increases stress on the spine causing several physical dysfunctions that result in back pain.
Several stretching routines are not only good as lower back pain exercises; they also build strength and flexibility of the muscles reducing the risk of healthy people towards back pain.
Stretching exercises relieves pressure on the muscles surrounding the spine which alleviates pain in the lower back. Like walking, this exercise is easy to do and can even be done even while you are at work. There are different stretching exercises specific to the underlying cause of lower back pain. Among the easiest ones to perform is the hamstring stretch.
Ideally, hamstring stretch is done while lying on your back. However, it can also be done while sitting on your office chair. Seated hamstring stretch is very convenient that anyone can add it to their daily activity once or twice a day. Other stretching forms can also be done with the aid of a physical therapist to target specific causes of lower back pain.
The importance of having a routine exercise has been widely spoken of. Doctors and physical therapists know that a few minutes of exercise on a regular basis can have huge returns especially when a person ages. Lower back pain exercises are conservative steps to remedy the condition and must ideally be done with the aid of an expert
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