Stretch #3 Lumbar Rotation
This is the first stretch in the series that is progressive assuming the previous movements were tolerable.
Laying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, put your knees and feet together as if you had a mermaid tail. Next, take a deep breath in a and as you exhale slowly drop your knees to the side, inhale bringing the legs back up to the starting position and exhale again as you drop them to the other side.
You do not need to have your knees touch the floor, work within your own pain-free range of motion.
Working this movement side to side creates a rotational motion in the lumbar spine and can help reduce tension if you are trying to fix lower back pain at home. This is a great exercise because it is an unassisted stretch that targets the low back which can be a difficult area to alleviate pain on your own.
Example Progression Of Treatment Regimens For Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease
Treatments need to be individualized. However, as a general rule, lumbar degenerative disc disease treatments start with basic pain control and non-invasive treatments and progress, if needed, to more extensive and/or invasive treatments.
One example of how treatment approaches may progress over time would be:
- Bed rest, or reduced activity, for the first 1 to 2 days after onset of severe pain, combined with anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen, and ice and/or heat therapy
- Prescription muscle relaxant medications, as needed, for up to 1 week
- Gentle stretching and aerobic exercise, for at least 3 times a week
- Physical therapy if after 3 weeks there is no improvement in pain
- An epidural injection if after 3 to 6 weeks there is little to no improvement in pain
- Spinal surgery if after 6 to 12 months the pain is severe, ongoing and significantly limits daily activities
Bed rest beyond the first 2 days of sharp, severe pain is not usually advised, because regular movement improves blood circulation and muscle strength and helps the body to heal more quickly than bed rest.
The above is just one example of a typical progression of treatments, and additional therapies or a different type of progression of care is not uncommon based on the patientâs condition and the treating physicianâs preferences as well as other variables.
What Is The Prognosis For Low Back Pain
The outlook for low back pain absolutely depends on its precise cause. For example, acute strain injuries generally heal entirely with minimal treatment. On the other hand, bony abnormalities that are irritating the spinal cord can require significant surgical repair and the outlook depends on the surgical result. Long-term optimal results often involve exercise rehabilitation programs that can involve physical therapists.
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Exercises To Improve Posture And Relieve Lower Back Pain
Poor posture is one of the top underlying causes of lower back pain. Whether you sit at a desk all day or are a professional athlete, poor posture could be the cause of that never-ending ache in your back. Try implementing the following exercises and stretches recommended by sports medicine doctors to reduce tension, build strength, and improve posture.
Rub On Medicated Creams
Skin creams, salves, ointments, or patches may help when your back feels stiff, sore, and tense. Many of these products contain ingredients such as menthol, camphor, or lidocaine that can cool, heat, or numb the affected area.
Put on creams right where you hurt. Ask someone to apply it if you have trouble reaching the spot.
âIt’s not going to be a mainstay at providing significant relief, but it can calm things down,â Ray says.
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Make Sure Your Main Pillow Isnt Causing Pain
Just like there is no one-size-fits-all option for mattresses, the type of pillow a person uses is mostly personal preference as long as it supports the spine in a healthy way. Typically, side sleepers gravitate towards thicker pillows while back sleepers often like thinner pillows.
When picking a pillow, try to make sure it keeps the spine in proper alignment. For back sleepers, that means there should be a straight line from the ear through the shoulders and hips. For side sleepers, the head and neck should remain level with the mid and lower spine.
If you feel like a pillow is propping your head up too much, causing the cervical spine in the neck to lie at an angle, the pillow is too high and may lead to neck and back pain later. Check out our post 21 Of The Best Pillows For Neck Pain for our suggestions on finding the best pillow for reducing pain.
It can be difficult picking out a pillow in the store. Its often hard to tell what it will feel like at home. Consider buying several options and trying them at home, returning the ones that you dont like. Its worth the hassle to find a supportive, comfortable pillow because they make a big difference in overall sleep quality.
Tips To Prevent Lower Back Pain When Squatting From Happening
Keeping great form is of the utmost importance. Again, its almost always bad form which causes injury. That being said, there are several areas that you can watch out for which can improve your ability to maintain proper form.
Check Your Foot Wear
The first mistake that new lifters usually make is wearing improper footwear. As the foot is what drives force into the ground, you could say this is fairly important. Most people new lifters will wear basic sneakers which are almost always designed for running or comfort. Unfortunately, comfort is not what you want when lifting. The soles of these shoes are often squishy to absorb the shock of the foot hitting the pavement. Thats a problem for two reasons:
- Squatting with squishy soles is like squatting while standing on a bunch of thick pillows its going to cause you to be off balance. Being off balance is disastrous when you have a loaded barbell on your back and are lifting for strength.
- When you drive your foot down, you want the force to be sent directly into the floor to propel yourself up. This doesnt happen with squishy shoes since they actually absorb some of the force before it travels into the floor.
Related: Heel Elevated Squats
Use Appropriate Loads And Progressive Overload
Some of the most important advice youll ever hear. Lift smart and increase slowly.
Strengthen Your Upper Back
Strengthen Your Lower Back And Entire Core
…and back extensions.
Improve Your Mobility And Flexibility
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What Causes Lower Back Pain
Many injuries, conditions and diseases can cause lower back pain. They include:
- Strains and sprains: Back strains and sprains are the most common cause of back pain. You can injure muscles, tendons or ligaments by lifting something too heavy or not lifting safely. Some people strain their back by sneezing, coughing, twisting or bending over.
- Fractures: The bones in the spine can break during an accident, like a car crash or a fall. Certain conditions increase the risk of fractures.
- Disk problems: Disks cushion the vertebrae . Disks can bulge from their position in the spine and press on a nerve. They can also tear . With age, disks can get flatter and offer less protection .
- Structural problems: A condition called spinal stenosis happens when the spinal column is too narrow for the spinal cord. Something pinching the spinal cord can cause severe sciatic nerve pain and lower back pain. Scoliosis can lead to pain, stiffness and difficulty moving.
- Arthritis: Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis to cause lower back pain. Ankylosing spondylitis causes lower back pain, inflammation and stiffness in the spine.
- Disease:Spine tumors, infections and several types of cancer can cause back pain. Other conditions can cause back pain, too. These include kidney stones and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
- Spondylolisthesis: This condition causes the vertebrae in the spine to slip out of place. Spondylolisthesis leads to low back pain and often leg pain as well.
Best Exercises For A Hurt Lower Back
When your back is feeling better, theres no need to jump straight back into performing back squats. In fact, in the same study above with walking, exercise can also help heal an injury, assuming you use the correct load and dont jump straight back into heavy sets. Well, the good thing is you wont have an issue finding a great squat alternative as there are more than a few really good back squat substitutes.
FRONT SQUAT
The front squat is a great alternative to the back squat. Actually, alternative makes it sound like the front squat is sub par which is completely inaccurate. The front squat is an amazing lower body exercise and is actually the preferred squat by many strength and conditioning coaches, especially within the athletic sector. That aside, because the bar is in front of the body, the torso will be in a much more vertical position. While it does require more mobility, this torso positioning causes significantly less stress on the lower back making it a great option when recovering from a hurt back.
Related: Front Squat vs Back Squat Muscles Worked
SUMO DEADLIFT
LEG PRESS
GOBLET SQUAT
Goblet squats are another awesome exercise to use when recovering from an injured back. The reasoning is exactly that of the front squat in that you hold a kettlebell or dumbbell in front of your body. This forces you to keep an upright torso thus having less stress on the lower back.
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Lower Back Pain: How To Tell If Its Muscle
When a patient visits my office with back pain, its my job to uncover the pain generator. We talk through the patients history, discuss their symptoms, and make a determination as to next steps. If need be, I prepare their case to be looked at by a surgeon, but generally, my goal is to help patients avoid surgery and find relief with more conservative measures.
Most cases of back pain are not caused by serious conditions. But its important to always rule out the possibility that a patient has another internal issue that mimics back pain . Colitis, kidney stones, gallbladder issues, vascular problems, or an aneurysm are examples of serious conditions that are capable of causing pain to radiate into the back, making it feel like youre experiencing back pain.
A thorough fact-finding investigation should help determine the cause. When did the pain start? How long did it last? What makes it better or worse? Key to determining the pain generator is the patients description of their condition and their medical history. For example, if a patient describes the pain as having come on suddenly and causing nausea, nearly prompting a trip to the emergency room, then disappearing just as suddenly, they may be suffering from a kidney stone rather than back pain from a spinal condition.
- Muscle pain
- Disc pain
Lets take a look at each type in more detail.
Degenerative Disc Disease Treatment Goals
The vast majority of people with degenerative disc disease experience low back pain symptoms that flare up periodically, but do not get worse over time. For those people, the main goals for managing lower back pain caused by degenerative disc disease are usually:
- Achieving enough pain relief to be able to engage in lower back pain exercises and a rehabilitation program
- Trying to manage the low back pain and maintaining an ability to function at home and at work.
Once a disc has degenerated, the degenerative process cannot be reversed. Instead of trying to rehabilitate the disc itself, treatment focuses on improving the health of surrounding structures, such as the spinal nerves, vertebral bones and joints, and supporting muscles and ligaments.
The main goals of the rehabilitation program include a therapist-guided and individual approach, which aim to2:
- Increase, restore, and/or maintain the range of motion in the affected spinal segment
- Build physical strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and endurance in the lower back and legs
- Guide patients to make ergonomic changes in their workspace and home to support the spine and prevent recurrence of pain
- Teach the correct use of posture while sitting, walking, sleeping, and lifting to promote maximum function with lesser pain
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Maintain Good Form To Prevent Lower Back Injury
The best way to fix lower back pain is to not get it in the first place. It might sound like a bit of a smart ass remark but it is true. However, as mentioned, we have all hurt our backs before so even we need to hear that advice. But honestly, if we can pinpoint what goes wrong when we squat that causes pain, we can just stop doing that. Theoretically, if you were to always squat with proper form and use appropriate loads and rest, you would never get hurt.
Thats why the most important factor to prevent hurting your lower back when squatting is to use good form. In fact, this is why it has its own section as below, well discuss other variables to be aware of to prevent back pain. Still, most of them are on the list as they can affect your form. That being said, here are the key points to be aware of.
Dont Let The Weight Bring You Forward
As mentioned above, you always want to maintain the weight over your lower legs. In other words, as you come down, the only movement you should see from your shoulders is them going down. There should be no back or forth motion.
Dont Round Your Back
Rounding your back is another major cause. When the back is straight, all of the vertebrae are aligned and work together to maintain a stiff torso. In reality, there should be no movement in the back as it should remain straight with an isometric contraction. It goes up because the hips come forward and push the back up.
Dont Hyperextend Your Back
Related: The Complete Squat Exercise Guide
Lower Back Stretches To Reduce Pain And Build Strength
Lower back pain is a fairly common health concern, as so many things can cause it.
In some cases, it might be a symptom of an underlying condition, like kidney stones or acute pancreatitis. Other times, its simply a side effect of a sedentary lifestyle or repetitive motions.
While stretching isnt a remedy for all lower back pain, in many instances, it can provide relief. If youve been living with some mild discomfort or stiffness, these seven stretches may help reduce the pain and strengthen the muscles in your lower back.
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Lower Back Pain Diagnosis
To help diagnose your lower back pain, an expert at UPMC Sports Medicine will observe the way you walk and move.
He or she will also ask you about the sports you play and other things you do each day that might cause your back pain.
Along with an exam, certain tests can pinpoint the cause of lower back pain.
Some tests look for issues with hard structures, like your spine or bones.
These may include:
- Bone scans to look for breaks, infection, or tumors in the backbones.
- Bone density studies to help diagnose osteoporosis.
Other tests look for problems in soft structures, like the nerves and spinal cord
These tests may include:
- MRI scans to take pictures of the lower back nerves or spinal cord.
- Electromyography and nerve conduction velocity tests to see how well the electrical signals in your nerves send messages to your arms and legs.
Release Your Inner Endorphins
Endorphins are hormones made naturally in your body. What many people dont know is that endorphins may help block pain signals from registering in your brain. Endorphins also help alleviate anxiety, stress, and depression, which are all associated with chronic back pain and often make the pain worse.
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What To Do About Lower Back Pain
Most of the time lower back pain is a result of daily stress and weak muscles. Sometimes it is a spasm caused by an accident or just putting on your socks in the morning.
You might start with some tried and true home remedies like ice, massage, or over the counter medications, then modify your exercise routine and lower the intensity of your work out. Pay careful attention to the pain when it happens, and what you are doing. If the pain gets worse or doesnt go away within 72 hours, a trip to see one of our physicians at OrthoNY may be in order.
If this is indeed a chronic issue, you may already have a physical therapist you can turn to for help. The worst thing you can do is to ignore it or think you can work it out.
What Are Some Common Lower Back Pain Causes
The causes of lower back pain are sometimes viewed as being mechanical, organic or idiopathic. Sometimes spinal conditions are congenital or acquired meaning the disorder develops later in life.
- Mechanical lower back pain is often triggered by spinal movement and involves spinal structures, such as the facet joints, intervertebral discs, vertebral bodies , ligaments, muscles or soft tissues.
- Organic lower back pain is attributed to disease, such as spinal cancer.
- Idiopathic refers to an unknown cause.
These are some of the things your doctor might look for or rule out when you schedule a visit for back pain.
The common symptoms of lower back pain.
Sprains and strains. Ligament sprains and muscle or tendon strains are the most common causes of lower back pain. Theyre often related to overuse.
Degenerative disc disease. While the name sounds worrisome, it just means you have a damaged disc causing pain. Over time, discs become thinner and flatter due to wear and tear. That leaves them less able to cushion the vertebrae and more likely to tear .
Herniated disc. The protective covering on intervertebral discs can tear over time. When this happens, the soft inner disc tissue may push through the outer layer. A disc that bulges or slips out of place is known as a herniated disc, bulging disc, or slipped disc. The herniation may press on nerve roots, leading to symptoms such as pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in the area that the nerve serves
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