Are you experiencing low back pain? This blog is for you!
After many years of treating back pain, I have realised that, whether people experience discogenic irritation, restricted vertebrae, sciatic nerve irritation or muscle spasm; the likelihood of getting back pain would be greatly reduced if these three exercises were done by everyone on a regular basis. Allow me to go ahead and share the secrets….
Do you experience regular excruciating low back pain?
Have you tried BACK EXTENSIONS? Lie on your tummy, keep your hips on the floor, place your hands under your shoulders and push up until your elbows are extended.
Many people find this very stiff and either their hips come off the floor or they cannot get their elbows fully extended. However, the more times they practice this, the looser their back becomes.
The reason for this is that many people spend excessive amount of time in flexion – sat at a desk, sat in a car, bending over to build a brick wall, bending over to do housework and bending over to look after kids.
But how many times do people fully extend their back to the amount that it is able to?
The answer is that unless you are a keen partaker in Pilates, or doing gymnastics, backflips, or backwards roly polys in the swimming pool, very few people stretch their back into extension this much on a regular basis. When they are told to do this as part of physiotherapy treatment, the back loosens, the disc gravitates into the correct neutral position, vertebrae begin to glide on each other in the natural way and back pain greatly reduces. They find they are now able to bend over pain-free and feel a lot more mobile.
Give it a try and wait for the results!
Squatty toilet anyone?
Are you able to do a full SQUATTING? For centuries, people have squatted to go to the toilet. In many countries people still think it is normal to do this as well. Doing a full squat regularly, enables people to maintain the range of movement in their hips, maintain the muscle strength in the back and the legs to get in and out of this position and ensures that the muscles are long enough to reach this position as well.
Forest Foot & Health is an award-winning podiatry clinic in the New Forest, offering a range of treatments including physiotherapy. To find out more about how we can treat your pain, visit our page here.