Sciatica and Back Pain Exercise - The Back Pull Down
Filed Under Exercise For Back Pain, Sciatica Exercises | Leave a Comment
Your back is the central supporting and movement system of your body, so if the muscles that surround and support it are unfit and inflexible you are much more likely to develop sciatica and back problems.
Your lower back, which is where many back problems occur, is supported by the so-called “core muscles”.
If your core muscles in particular are weak, it means your lower back is carrying a larger part of the strain of lifting and twisting and you are more likely to suffer low back pain as a result.
This is why a lot of back pain exercises focus on strengthening these core muscles, or at least “waking them up” and making them more flexible.
Sciatica Exercise - The Back Pull Down
This exercise is quite different to run-of-the-mill back exercises, but it is great at waking up back muscles that are often dormant (see video below).
It is best done with an elastic exercise band which you can buy from almost any sporting goods store.
As an alternative, you can use any household item that has some degree of elasticity e.g. an elastic luggage strap, an old bicycle inner tube etc. You can also use a rolled up towel, but the lack of stretch in it will make the exercise harder to do.
Sit upright in a chair with your back straight and your tummy pulled in. Raise your arms above your head holding the elastic band or towel in between them horizontally with your hands approximately shoulder width apart.
Stretch your arms up as far as they will go then slowly pull your arms behind your neck, keeping the elastic band or towel horizontal and with a slight tension on it.
Keep pulling down until the band is roughly half way down your back (if you can get that far). Rest there briefly, then raise your arms again until your arms up as far as they will go again. Remember to keep the band horizontal while you move it up and down.
Do the movements up and down slowly and steadily, don’t rush them. You can change the degree of difficulty and effect of the exercise by increasing or decreasing the tension on the band or towel.
If you pull harder to make it tight as you move up and down it takes more effort, but it has the benefit of working your back muscles harder and differently than if you do it with only light tension in the band.
Repeat the exercise about 5 times the first time you do it (depending on how fit you are and what your back tells you about the effect.
DON’T OVERDO it at first or you’re likely to end up sore and not inclined to do it again for a while and it is best done regularly.
Then you can build up the repetitions over time until you’ve reached 20, which is about as many as you will ever need to do at one time. (Feel free to do more if you want to though. I sometimes keep on going to 30 or more, especially if I’ve been sitting at a PC all day and feel stiff or tense. I might rest for a few minutes and then do another 20-30 depending on how I feel).
Remember the Better Back System gives you a complete easy-to-follow exercise and diet system for treating sciatica and back pain. Check it out here.
Treating Lower Back and Hip Pain
Filed Under Causes of lower Back and hip pain, Sciatica Exercises | Leave a Comment
Precise diagnosis of the causes of lower back and hip pain is notoriously difficult because your spine is a large and complex organ that is full of joints, nerves and ligaments and is heavily interconnected with the surrounding muscles that support it.
For example, a doctor or back specilist may look at the back X-ray of a somebody with severe pain and see nothing unuusal apart from “routine wear and tear”. On the other hand, people who are exeriencing no back problems may have X-rays that suggest they should hardly be able to walk!
All the major nerves to your body’s extremities start by running down your spine and then branch out to these other areas. So if you have a problem with your middle or upper back you may find it affects the strength or feeling in your arms or hands.
The sciatic nerve exits the spine in your lower back and connects with your legs - thigh, calf, foot toes etc.
If your back suffers injury or degeneration it can affect the spine’s structure and/or alignment of the vertebrae (bones in your spine). This can result in pressure being placed on nerves as they exit the spine via gaps in the vertebrae.
This is what happens with sciatica - pressure is placed upon the sciatic nerve which results in pain and/or tingling and/or loss of function in your legs.
In terms of lower back and hip pain, the lower back is an area that is frequently affected by injury, aging, degeneration or wear and tear because it is an area of high stress. Lifting, bending, twisting, sitting or driving for long periods all affect your lower back in particular.
Note:
Commonly, “L4″ and “L5″ are 2 vertebrae in your lower back that are frequently impacted by wear and tear or injury and a cause of lower back and hip pain.
Once your back suffers an injury, or loss of function through aging and/or wear and tear (for example one or more disks may become thinner or distorted in shape), then 2 things are liable to happen:
1. The surrounding muscles are likely to spasm or “freeze” in an attempt to protect the spine from the threat of (further) injury.
2. This wear and tear can cause the spine’s alignment and vertebral spacing to change, thus leading to pressure being placed on nerves in and around the spine.
Both effects are likely to cause pain in the lower back and hip areas.
The Solution:
Here are ways we suggest you can treat back pain:
1. Get your spine back in alignment (as best you can allowing for injury and aging).
The options here include:
(a) active treatment from various therapists and specialists (physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors etc)
(b) doing items 2-4 below and waiting for healing to occur naturally
(c) doing a mix of (a) and (b) - this is my preference
(d) back surgery (be very careful with this)
2. Review your habits with the objective of eliminating bad movements and poor posture.
3. Improve your diet - eat healthy food and/or take a natural wholefood supplement
4.3. Strengthen the muscles that surround and support the spine. This treatment of sciatica back injuries is the focus of the the Better Back System.