Best Exercises For Back Pain

If you like over 70% of adults suffer from back pain then my guess is you would like to find something that can help end that suffering.

Back pain can have many causes, but almost universally the proper rehab program can impact the level of disfunction and pain you may be dealing with. Interestingly back muscle "strength" is usually not the problem. Many high level athletes deal with ongoing back pain.

The problem often is that all of us are predisposed to back pain because of our lifestyle. We have more back issues in western countries than other cultures. Why? Because we "sit" too much! This pattern falls into the classic Repetitive Injury Cycle. NASA studied this and found any muscle put into a shortened contracted position for any longer than 10 minutes tends to want to stay shortened and contracted. Think about what you've been doing since you were about 5 years old? Sitting in school, right. Add up the total time you've sat in school, in front of a computer, driving, ect. You can be in the gym 2 hours a day every day of your life but what are you doing the other 22 hours?

The problem is that we are curling up into a ball. The front of our bodies is over contracted and tight this produces a condition in the posterior chain, (all the muscles in the back) becoming what is referred to as "neurologically inhibited". Meaning the muscles are not relaxing which plays havoc on the joints and literally changes basic movement patters, meaning we tend to loose mobility in our hips and wind up compensating with movement in the low back. Which does "not" want to be mobile. Your low back is designed to be stable. Important distinction!

So, how do we fix this?

First, you have to break the cycle. You can not sit for much longer than 20 - 30 minutes at a time.

Second we need to rewire the noodle so it communicates more effectively with the posterior chain. We do this part with a system called;

Foundation training.

This is a hybrid mix of yoga and Thai Chi. It's one of the most effective movement systems I've seen for getting the body moving correctly and it helps with posture. Many professional athletes are incorporating this into their workout programs. You don't need any equipment. If you Google YouTube South Beach Pain and Injury, I have a video up demonstrating the most basic pose which also addresses shoulder pain issues.

Third. We need to effectively recondition the whole corset area around the low back. The front, the sides and the back. We do this with a series of exercises called The Big 3! It's important to remember what I said about this often not being about back strength. The muscles that protect your low back are postural as opposed to being phasic. Meaning they need to be working all the time to produce "stability". Therefore we need to work more on endurance than promoting strength.

Stewart McGill The Big 3

Google the same way I listed it, if you just Google The big 3 all kinds of other stuff comes up. These 3 exercises are again what pro athletes use to fix their backs

These two systems if done consistently will help. But you have to do it!

Also, don't forget what chiropractic, ART, Active Release Technique and Cold Laser can do for a bad back.

South Beach Pain & Injury