| More than 90% of back pain is caused by muscle weakness in the back or the abdomen or both. You can take care of back pain and prevent it from recurring by maintaining correct alignment and good posture into your unconscious patterns that more you through the day and by strengthening the muscle groups that sustain it.
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GOOD POSTURE
The first step is to become aware of your body, so that when you’re holding yourself stiff, you instantly recognize the tension in your muscles standing or sitting, you should put minimal strain on the muscles of your lower back, by pressuring the spine’s natural curve.
MAKE THE RIGHT MOVES
Lift using your leg muscles, not your arms and back. If you need to pick up something heavy, like a grocery bag or a packed suitcase, bend at your knee and lift it, keeping your back straight. Outdoors, use a backpack rather than a shoulder bag, it will distribute your weight more evenly.
LEVEL OF HEIGHT
Bring your work, food or reading to a position that allows you to keep your eyes straight ahead, your head high, and which does not require you to crane your neck forward.
SLEEP RIGHT
Avoid sleeping on your stomach. When the stomach sags downwards, it tends to arch your back, increasing the lumbar curve and your pain. Sleeping on your back can be similarly uncomfortable, for it tends to increase the lumbar curve. You should choose a mattress that is designed to help with back pain.
Sleeping on the side with legs bent at knees, tends to minimize the spinal stress by straightening the lumber curve. Try placing one or two pillows under your knee, this is known as “lazy S” position, and the pillow under the knee tends to pull your hips upwards, flattening the lumbar curve and reducing the tension in this area.
PRACTICE RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Practice relaxing your back muscles, when you’re sitting in one place for a long time. You can go to WF flexibility exercise to view exercises to stretch your upper and lower back. Hold the stretch for 5-10 seconds and slowly release.
IDENTIFY FEELING OF EXERTION AND PAIN
It is vital that you distinguish between the feeling of exertion and pain. Pain is a signal from your nerves that what you are doing is wrong for you. When you get such signals, do some mild back exercise that feel comfortable. Try the side slide, knee hug and pelvic tilt.
DROP THE LOAD
If you are overweight, try to loose the extra load on your back. keep at bay the pot-belly that adds to the strain or your back. Begin with cardiovascular exercise for at least 3-5 times a week to shed extra weight. Aerobic, exercise is probably the best kind of exercise for preventing back pain. By getting your heart and lungs to work harder than they are used to, you can reverse the poor physical conditioning that contributes to back pain.
STRENGTHEN YOUR ABDOMINAL MUSCLES
Your abdominal muscles are the core of your fitness. The rectus is the oblong muscle running vertically from the public bones to the breast bone helps to support your trunk and keep your tummy from sagging. The oblique muscles from the diagonal bands that criss-cross at the navel. The transverse muscle is a horizontal band across the waist. Feel these muscles tighten whenever you perform abdominal exercises.
TAKE A BREAK
Don’t sit tight and avoid sitting in a chair for longer than 30 minutes at a time; get up and move around. Don’t sit with a flat wallet in your back pocket. It can exert pressure on the sciatic nerve, which can lead to pain in the back (and legs)
PERFORM BACK STRENGTHENING EXERCISES
If done religiously, these exercises can give your back muscles, strength, flexibility and range of motion. Beginners can make use of weight-lifting belt to avoid straining their lower back. Go to WF strength training exercises to check out exercise for the back, perform the exercise according to the instructions laid down, to achieve good results.
Exercise for the back, should aim at increasing flexibility, strength and endurance. The lower back, in particular requires strong muscles for support and prevention of lower back pain.
