Make Back Pain Walk the Plank
Back pain is often the result of weak supporting muscles. The supporting muscles in your back never rest while you are awake. They are constantly stabilizing your body, and supporting movements. You can get a sense of how stabilizer muscles work by using a gallon jug of milk. With arms outstretched, lift the jug to your shoulder level. If you pay attention, you will notice that your head shifted, your neck moved, and the weight shifted on your feet. It’s your stabilizer muscles working to keep you upright.
Stabilizer muscles rarely rest, even when we are sitting. That’s why it is so important for them to be strong and flexible. Those same muscles are considered “core muscles”. Strong core muscles give you better stability and mobility.
Weak core muscles, in either the front (tummy) or back, can eventually lead to back pain. Here are a few simple exercises, that can strengthen your core muscles dramatically in only a few minutes a day.
The first one is easy. Start by getting on “all fours”, your hands and knees, and breathe in, sucking in your tummy. Hold that position for a bit. Then exhale, breathing out, while pushing out your stomach. Repeat the exercise for a few minutes and feel those core muscles tightening up.
Another good exercise is the plank. All you do is get into the “up” position of a pushup and hold there. Try holding for 30 seconds or more. The plank exercise strengthens all the core muscles at once.
A variation of the plank is to start in the “up” push up position, but then raise your behind as high as you can. After raising it high, lower it back down. Repeat the action several times. This variation works your shoulders as well.
Exercises where you hold the muscle in tension, like plank exercises, are called “isometric”. They work fast to strengthen muscles. If you do these exercises for 5 minutes a day, in a few weeks, you will feel stronger, more flexible, and more confident.
Maintaining a strong core also helps with balance and posture. Poor posture is another trigger for back pain.
Keep on planking to help prevent and eliminate back pain.
