Exercise to Relieve Back Pain

Workout to Help with Back Pain

Eventually, we all experience some sort of pain in our body that can be either majorly debilitating that it puts us Down on our butt for long periods of time or that achy, chronic pain; the kind that keeps you up at night and the chronic lack of sleep, over a long period of time, that sabotages and negatively affects so many aspects of your daily life very, very badly.

The thing about pain, is that it demands to be heard. It’s wants attention. Most of us instinctively react want a quick fix. Is there a medication I can take? Do I need to make a doctor appt? Do I need an MRI? Maybe a cortisone shot? We want this pain gone asap.

Maybe you are one of the lucky ones and not experiencing any pain, anywhere in your body right now (lucky you), but you have lived with someone or know someone struggling. It’s not fun to see them suffer and you definitely don’t want that to happen to you. What’s important to know is that if you are currently experiencing pain or not, using movement is an option for everyone to either Mitigate or Prevent pain. Learning Pilates concepts & principles and ingraining them into your body is the beginning of making a healthy back for a lifetime, so that you move well into your 80s & 90s. What you do today, affects the quality of your life 20, 30, 40 years down the road.

Where to begin?

Do Stretches for Lower Back Pain

The saying goes… “Low Back is a really good guy!” & will take charge & do & support everything you are physically asking the body to do every day.” That’s why he’s always cranky. ha ha And, if your belly is not actively drawing-in, weak, and/or protruding forward… your low back is doing all the work! I’d be cranky too.

Think – LENGTHEN THE LOWER BACK – it’s not more complicated than that. There are so many ways to make that happen; hug your knees to your chest; touch your toes; just standing or lying down in one place and tilting your pelvis back you can instantly feel how good lengthening the lower back feels.

Low Back Exercises

Instead of thinking of doing “low back exercises” – Think about what’s happening on the opposite side of the body or the front of the body; the belly. Is it active and alive with energy? Or is it soft and mushy? Is your belly/core doing it’s part to assist with your body’s movements? If it is not working…more than likely, if not now, but later on, your back is gonna hurt, because it’s doing all the work!

The solution? Lengthen and open your low back and connect to, turn on and get your belly. We are not asking you to go to the gym and do crunches, no. Try something so much valuable (and sophisticated) than that…learn to build your inner corset. Teach your belly to always be actively draw-in and working with every movement of every day, not just in the gym. Teaching your body that every physical thing you do, doesn’t happen unless the activation of your core muscles happens first.

Stronger Abs Benefits

What are the benefits to stronger Abs? First and foremost, less or no back ache, Bonus! And it goes way beyond trying to grow the vanity six-pack with 100 crunches a day. Stronger Abs will give you:

• Improved Posture
• Reduced Risk of Injury
• Better Balance and Stability
• Enhanced Athletic Performance
• Improved Digestion
• Better Back Health
• Less Strain on your Neck, Back and Shoulders

Stronger Abs Workout

Where do you even begin? The Answer: it all starts with very basic movements and exercises. These are Foundational exercises, critical connections, and mindful initiation and intention to learn to execute well first before you move on to even Level 1 stuff. Sometimes, we even have to Unlearn bad movement patterns/Habits before grasp new concepts to change our physiques. For example, if you jump onto YouTube to find an ab workout to do, are you sure you are executing the exercises correctly using your abs Or did you just do that whole workout using your legs/quadriceps? It happens.

Best Beginner Exercises

The best beginner exercises are the “pre-exercises”- the simple ones: Can your body do these movements (all the time) without even laser-focused thinking?

• Can I lift my arms over my head without popping my ribs out? (like a gymnast)
• Can I keep my belly drawn-in as I lift my arms overhead?
• Can I do that same one above lying down on my back?
• Can I lift my head from my core?
• Can I move my spine segmentaly?
• Can my hips open up?
• Can I connect to my glutes?

These are just to name a few.

Simple Exercises for Low Back Pain

To keep and stay healthy in your spine, movement is the medicine and begin your journey with foundational moves. The journey into the body is a lifelong journey.