Pain Relief with Lower Back Pain Exercise
Posted by: Richard A. Convery in Health, tags: HealthThere are many causes for lower back pain, some are significantly sinister and more complex than others. What is universal though, is the fundamental need for a regime of specific exercise to strengthen support of the spine. General exercise can never expect to achieve the support required.
Muscles begin to lose strength, and therefore their capacity to support and create movement to the spine, within days of inactivity. Atrophy is a process that can commence within 72 hours within a relatively healthy body, and even less in the not-so-healthy. Fortunately, restoration of the necessary specific spinal support strength for most sufferers is, generally speaking, a relatively simple and not too-time-consuming task, provided it is done in a systematic and incremental manner.
Generally, most resistance exercise predominantly achieve only the shortening of muscle fibres, however the restoration of specific strength represents only half of the formula needed for essential elasticity within the soft tissue supporting the spine. The lengthening of corresponding muscle fibres is achieved by performing appropriate stretching. Combining the two activities of specific exercises AND the corresponding appropriate stretches, all done in appropriately, routinely and regularly, will result in the vital elasticity needed for a healthy back to function correctly.
The sequence of the activities is also critical. The essential sequence is to first gently warm up in a non-load-bearing and non-impacting manner; next, to do appropriate stretches. This is then followed by the exercise regime. The sequence concludes by a warm-down [if necessary] and finally with a repeat of the stretching.
It is impossible to do only one stretch that will influence all the muscles involved as there are three movement functions of the spine, and the series of stretches must involve all the muscles that are directly or indirectly involved in the mechanical support of the spine. It is essential therefore to do at least THREE effective stretches both before and after the specific exercise/s.
Stretching not only assists in the restoration of elasticity, but also helps to rid the muscle of waste products, and assists in the restoration of the body’s naturally occurring symmetry. During the specific exercise/s, dependent on the duration and severity of the exercise/s, a build-up of deposited waste product may remain within the muscles/s. Failure to stretch effectively invariably produces an asymmetrical [non-symmetrical] body pattern.
Clearly, specific spinal support strength exercises will help equip the human spine to cope better with various weight-bearing activities. The maintenance of specific spinal support strength will better enable the spine to be less susceptible to potentially degenerative compression. Having made that comment, it is also crucial to embrace the truth that even a healthy, non-painful spine still requires systematic and routine de-compression to remain pain-free.
By combining the principles of restoration of elasticity, symmetry and de-compression, the spine invariably possesses the capacity to recover however without respecting these principles, no amount of lower back pain exercises can expect to achieve anything more than temporary pain relief, at best.
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