One of the things I run across a lot when people first come to me to help them relieve their back pain is that they’re doing a lot of lower back exercises because they think what the problem is that they have a weak lower back.
STOP DOING THIS IMMEDIATELY
One of the last things you want to do if you have lower back pain is to try to make your lower back muscles stronger
More than likely if you suffer from back pain your lower back muscles are working more than they should and are probably stronger than they need to be
Researchers have done numerous studies where they put electrodes on people with back pain and find out that those with lower back pain actually have stronger lower back muscles than those that don’t have lower back pain
Why is that? This is because the muscles that you are supposed to be using aren’t doing anything and your lower back muscles are picking up the slack.
Your lower back muscles are working when they’re not supposed to be so if you go to the gym and you start doing back extensions or any other exercise like that where it’s supposed to focus in the lower back, you’re actually telling the muscles that you want them to be doing the work that they are doing that you don’t actually want them to be doing.
If you have lower back pain the last thing on the list, I would suggest you do is any sort of lower back direct exercise
You shouldn’t even be feeling it in your lower back in any exercise whatsoever. You want to focus on working your hips and your core so they realize they’re supposed to be doing the work that your lower back is taking over for
When you work out, you want to see if you can get your lower back muscles to kind of ‘relax’ and stop doing anything. They are still working no matter what but you don’t want them to be the main movers on any exercise. Your lower back muscle should mainly be used for stabilization.
So yet again do not directly work your lower back muscles especially any sort of back extension machine or anything like that
If you do, you are just going to exacerbate the problem and make your pain worse overall
If you have any other questions concerning back pain please reply to this email.
Your Friend and Coach (and ex back pain suffer),
Paul F Sweatt CPT
Train smart. Train hard. Train safe. Train to Sweatt
P.S. – Do you want to get in shape from home and get that back pain relief without having to go to the gym?
Then my Pain-Free in 12 Weeks program may be for you. We will go over everything you can do from the comfort of your home to get you pain free permanently. Or your money back. Reply ‘Pain Free’ for more info.