No Need To Live With Lower Back Pain

Strengthening your lower back might not be on your priority list this summer—it’s easy to temporarily obsess over toned arms, abs and glutes during beach season—but don’t forget that a strong lower back can prevent or relieve many common types of back pain.

According to HealthLink BC, “10 minutes of stretching and strengthening exercises each day can condition the muscles of the back… and may relieve low back pain.”

If you suffer from lower-back pain and aren’t sure what type of exercises to perform, ask yourself if your back pain is lessened when you sit down, or when you stand and walk. If the former is true, you will likely benefit from extension exercises. If the latter is true, then flexion exercises might be of more help. If you don’t regularly experience lower-back pain, there’s no need to worry—any strengthening exercises should be suitable, when performed correctly.

To perform a back extension, lie on the floor, on your stomach. Place your hands at your sides and—slowly—raise your shoulders approximately five inches from the floor, while contracting the muscles of your lower back. Keep your neck straight and your lower body relaxed. Hold this pose for one second before slowly lowering back down. When done correctly, you should feel this exercise equally on both sides of your back. Try to do two or three sets of 15 to 20 repetitions.

A suitable flexion exercise is the pelvic tilt. This exercise also strengthens the lower abdominal muscles, which—combined with the back and leg muscles—prevent low-back pain by helping to support the spine. To perform a pelvic tilt, lie on the floor, on your back. Bend your knees while keeping both feet flat on the ground. By flexing your lower abdominal muscles and squeezing your gluteal muscles, your pelvis will tilt upwards. Hold this pose for five seconds and remember to keep your lower back on the ground. Try to do two or three sets of 10 to 20 repetitions.

Weak lower-back muscles are often accompanied by tight hamstring muscles. To stretch these muscles, begin by lying on your back. Place a towel around the bottom of one foot—like a stirrup—while holding the ends of the towel in your hands. Pull the towel while raising your straightened leg towards the ceiling, keeping the opposite leg flat on the ground. Do not twist your hips. Hold this pose for approximately 30 seconds. Try to gradually increase your flexibility so you can raise your leg to a 90-degree angle.

Keep in mind that an active lifestyle and healthy diet are both essential for healthy muscles. The best way to keep your lower back strong is to regularly stretch your muscles, get aerobic exercise, and eat a balanced diet.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800 or visit their web site www.karpfitness.com.

I have been in a car accident and my doctor says that I need to start on an active rehabilitation program, what does this mean?

Active rehabilitation is a modern approach to rehabilitation that many doctors have become fond of for the treatment of soft-tissue injuries. With active rehabilitation you are actively involved in your recovery. This may mean developing a stretching program to help loosen your tight muscles, it may also mean exercising in a pool for more acute injuries, or it may mean participating in a progressive strengthening program to re-strengthen your body. An active rehabilitation program should be individualized and begin with an assessment by a registered Kinesiologist or Physiotherapist to determine your injuries. Once your limitations are determined, rehabilitative goals will be set and a program will be designed to help you return to your pre-injury status.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.

What is Active Rehabilitation?

What is Active Rehabilitation? Also called Therapeutic Exercise, it is functionally based, injury and sport specific rehabilitation. Active Rehabilitation used to be directed mainly toward athletes, but is now used for anyone in the general population that is in need of rehabilitation. Active Rehabilitation exercise’s are geared toward re-establishing the necessary level of function for an individual’s performance.

When an injury occurs your doctor will determine how much rest, if any, is required. Many doctors now suggest Hydrotherapy with no rest at all. Hydrotherapy is exercise performed in a therapeutic pool. The buoyancy of water allows for strength and flexibility training without any weight bearing on the injury. This effectively enables the individual to begin rehabilitation earlier. This is especially important when it is considered that prolonged rest can actually result in a loss of functional capacity. In fact, total inactivity can result in up to 5% muscle strength loss a day!

Therefore, it is important to begin restoring normal range of motion as soon as possible. Active rehabilitation accomplishes this through flexibility training and stretching exercises that are specific to the injury. Once normal range of motion has been established and maintained, strength training is then introduced in order to restore strength at the injured site.

Active Rehabilitation focuses on functional restoration of the injury, enabling you to get back to your maximal performance as soon as possible!

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer in Vancouver. For further information call his office at 604-420-7800.