Lower back pain will affect 9 in 10 of us, a sad statistic that you can avoid through a couple key lifestyle changes and some exercises and stretches that will nurture you past pain.
Contributing lifestyle factors
Don’t be nervous, you don’t have to change a whole lot and the the little things you do get to implement such as:
– regular desk breaks
– stretches
– key exercises
– and walks
feel great! Little activity breaks throughout the day will also serve to help you stay focused and productive.
What are some drivers of lower back pain?
Our modern lifestyles mean we spend a fair bit of time sitting at a desk, in the car or on the couch etc. Rounding of the shoulders and tight chest muscles are the more noticeable postural dysfunctions that result. Sitting though; puts our hips into flexion, basically anytime our legs are bent up from our waist. This encourages our hip flexors to adaptively shorten. We all know how it feels when we have spent a long time sitting down without a break, tingles, numbness and stiffness, a lack of blood flow and muscles tightening up. This then causes a tightness to develop in our hips which then leads to pain that radiates into the lower back as well as loss of hip extension and an inability to use our glutes. The erector Spinae (muscles that run up and down your spine) through lack of core and glute engagement will also adaptively shorten, pull on the spine and cause pain.
This can feel like:
– An ache in your lower back
– Poor posture and difficulty standing tall and proud
– Tightness and pain that can reach all the way up to your neck
– Pain through the glutes (bum) as well as trouble developing them.
Be your own passion project! You can correct these muscular imbalances and dysfunction with some simple exercises to get yourself standing tall and proud in no time.
Check out the links below to find follow-along workouts you can do from home.
If you would like someone on your team to get you pain free and feeling your best then reach out!
As an experienced and qualified trainer I am confident we can get you where you need be.