Many people associate back pain with aging. Getting older makes you feel stiffer, reduces flexibility, and creates aches and pains. In fact, although approximately four million Australians suffer from back pain, it’s not something you need to live with.
Instead, you need to learn the following five exercises that will strengthen your core and help to eliminate your back pain. In many cases, back pain is the result of poor posture and sitting at a desk all day. The good news is the issue can be effectively dealt with.
However, before you start the following exercises, you should consult a reputable physiotherapist, such as this physiotherapy Botany. This is especially true if your back pain is a result of trauma.
The Bird Dog
You’ll need to get on your hands and knees and keep your back straight, as though you’re are a table. Make sure your wrists are under your shoulders and your knees in line with your hips.
Then, put your right arm forward and your left leg back. Squeeze your abs and return to the table position before doing the left arm and right leg. Keep switching a,d repeat ten times with each leg/arm combo.
Upside Down!
This exercise requires you to lie on your back and put your feet and arms in the air. In effect, you’ll be in the table position again, but this time you’re laid on your back. Now contract your abs, this will force your lower back into the ground.
Focus on keeping your back on the ground as you roll up slightly to perform a crunch. Your hands should go against your quads and you’ll feel the pressure in your core.
The Bridge
This is another exercise you’ve probably seen before. It focuses on your glutes to help strengthen your core.
Start by lying on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent. Keep your arms loosely by your sides. Then, squeeze your abs tight and push your body upward, the aim is to lift your hips and straighten your quads. Hold this position for a few moments before lowering back down and repeating. You’ll want to do it at least ten times.
The Bug
Exercise four also wants you to start by lying on your back. In fact, you’ll adopt the same starting position as number two, an upside-down table. You can no push your left leg out to straighten it and push your right arm past your head, also keeping it safe.
You’ll feel the stretch in your core as you hold the position for several seconds. Return to the starting position, switch arm and leg, and then repeat. Do it for each arm/leg combo at least ten times.
Forearm Plank
The Plank is recognized as a great way of strengthening your core. Simply lie on your front on the floor and then lift yourself onto your tiptoes while resting on your elbows with your forearms flat on the floor. Your body will be one straight line and you need to focus on pulling your abs in.
The exercises won’t give instant results but, with a little practice, you’ll soon start to notice the difference.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
