Four Exercises To Relax A Painful Back

Do you suffer from lower back pain? There’s nothing more frustrating or debilitating, than waiting for muscle spasms in your back to relax. The root of many back problems is simply a result of weak muscles.

Your core muscles are the muscles of the back, abdomen and buttocks. The purpose of these muscles is to support the spine. If these muscles aren’t exercised, they become shorter – which causes the spine to be forced out of alignment.

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Exercises for the back will strengthen the core muscles, resulting in a strong, supple spine and back – pain free. The best back exercise program combines exercises that stretch the back muscles with exercises that strengthen the muscles. When you start a program for back exercises, take it slow and easy. You don’t want to further injure or aggravate your back. If you start to feel back strain, slow down.

Here are some simple exercises to begin building core muscles and flexibility:

Knee to Chest – This exercise stretches back muscles. Lie down on a floor or firm surface. Clasp your hands behind your left thigh and pull gently towards your chest. Keep your opposite leg flat and straight. Maintain the stretch for 30 seconds, switch legs and repeat.

Pelvic Tilt – While lying on your back on the floor or firm surface, bend knees and place feet flat on the floor or surface. Push the small of your back into the floor by pulling your abdominal muscles up and in. Hold the movement for five seconds. Continue breathing normally throughout the hold.

Hip Rolling – While still lying on your back, bend both knees with feet flat on floor. Cross your arms over your chest. Slowly and gently turn your head and upper body to the right, while moving your knees to the left. Relax your knees towards the floor (be careful not to force the action). Bring your knees back to center and reverse directions.

Pelvic Lift – Lie on your back on the floor or flat surface. Place your feet flat, and bend your knees. Cross your arms over your chest, keep your legs together. Tilt your pelvis and gently push your lower back to the floor. Slowly lift your buttocks of the floor. Lower your buttocks to the floor.

These four exercises for the back will begin to stretch and strengthen your muscles. When performed gently, they are also beneficial in relaxing and stretching sore and strained back muscles.

There are many additional core muscle exercises that strengthen your muscles. When you perform these stretching and strengthening exercises, it can result in pain-free movement, increased activity, and an enjoyable quality of life. All this with just a few simple stretches a few times a week – what could be better?

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Copyright (c) 2008 Nancy Rishworth

By: Nancy Rishworth

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Nancy Rishworth, grew up dancing and became a qualified Aerobics and Fitness & Personal Trainer. She is also a qualified Naturopath having studied various healing modalities through healthy eating, herbal remedies, vitamins, massage & exercise. Her Flexibilty Plus Workout Program improves flexibility, strength and overall health. For nutritional info and other core strength and cardio exercise tips and guidelines go to http://www.flexibilityplus.com/

The Truth About Back Pain 

Dr. Todd Sinett addresses the interconnection of the health of one’s back with one’s diet.

By Todd Sinett, DC, and Sheldon Sinett, DC
Published by Perigee; March 2008;$24.95US; 978-0-399-53393-8

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Chapter 8
Food Rules for Healthy Backs

One Saturday afternoon I received a phone call from a Grammy-winning recording artist who was suffering from severe upper back and neck pain and was concerned that she was not going to be able to make it through her performance on Saturday Night Live and a concert that was scheduled for the following day. She said the pain was so bad she could barely turn her head.

During the examination, I noticed that her whole muscular system was tight, almost to the point of rigidity. It was as if she were suffering from a full-body spasm. From the examination, which includes an assessment of the abdominal area, I could tell that she was suffering severe gas pains. We talked for a while, and she told me about her on-the-road diet, which was not very healthy and frequently featured tasty treats like toaster pastries and ice cream. It became clear to me that her primary problem — so serious that it caused back and neck tension and pain — stemmed from bad eating.

I presented her with the good news. I explained that I understood how very uncomfortable she was (and how very real her pain was) and that although I couldn’t cure her immediately, I knew she could feel much better within a few days. (When the physical reaction is this severe, it reflects a toxic buildup within the body, which requires a reorientation of the diet and time for the body to readjust.)

Like the Grammy winner I just described, most of my patients say they don’t have much time to prepare meals. When asked to keep a food diary, which I ask of most of my patients, a typical day’s entry will read like this:

Breakfast: coffee, muffin or bagel, more coffee

Lunch: sandwich, chips, soda or iced tea

Snack: candy or chips, more soda

Dinner: pizza or pasta dish, soda or wine, pastry or ice cream

Does this list look familiar? It’s pretty clear that this kind of eating doesn’t provide you with nearly the vitamins and nutrients you need to stay healthy.

If you put low-performance fuel into what needs to be your high-performance body, there is little surprise that your back and body aren’t functioning at their peak. If you are concerned about your health, you need to upgrade the fuel you consume. But even people who place great value on exercising and eating right can run into trouble if the balance of food is incorrect, causing pain-related issues.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Curiously, those patients (about 20 percent) whose back pain has been clearly linked to chemical or nutritional factors ate healthily. But many had very little variety in their diets. These people were actually eating too much of a good thing. Keeping a food diary was easy for them because they ate almost the exact same thing every day. Unfortunately, this system doesn’t work. Your body needs multiple sources of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs. Ironically, when it comes to food choices, a certain level of inconsistency is ideal. Because these patients didn’t eat a variety of healthy food, their dietary systems were constantly irritated. Many of these patients had gassiness, a bloated feeling, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and even constipation. In these cases, we strive to get the patients eating a more balanced diet. Over time their digestive systems slow down, and the transit time becomes more accommodating for positive absorption — and their back pain goes away.

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Before I understood this, I went on my own health kick. I started having oatmeal — which is high in fiber — every day for breakfast, and salads were my choice for lunch. Unfortunately, a week into this diet, I had a dramatic increase in bloating and stomach pain — and eventually a stiff neck. When I returned to my old eating habits, which were already pretty good, I felt better. The moral of the story is that just because a food is considered healthful doesn’t mean it is always good for you — or acceptable to eat in excess.

So what healthy foods cause trouble? The most frequent offenders include salad, oatmeal, egg whites, tofu, smoothies, raw vegetables, frozen yogurt, beans, freshly squeezed juices, and protein bars. The demon in many cases is often too much roughage. Although we all need some roughage for proper digestion, too much causes your digestive tract to go into overdrive.

One patient, Paul, offers a good example of what can happen with too much of a good thing. Although he was trying to adjust his lifestyle for better health, he found that the process could be painful. Recently he came to me complaining of lower back pain that was so severe he couldn’t lift or play with his 1-year-old twins. He had been following my stretching regimen before and after he exercised, and he was quite miffed to be suffering from debilitating pain.

When I asked him to explain what had happened, he said he “just kind of woke up with the pain” after playing basketball the day before. He had no recollection of getting injured, but he surmised he was just getting too old to play, joking that he was worried his illustrious career was over at the age of 35.

I went through my regular questions. He had just told me about his exercise and stretching routine, so I continued: Had he been stressed? No. Had he eaten anything different? No. But then he paused. He mentioned he had just gotten back from a spa where they talked about the benefit of flaxseed oil, so he had begun to put flaxseeds on all of his food.

As I continued this line of questioning, it became clear that the flaxseeds created too much irritation to Paul’s digestive system and, in turn, caused muscle inflammation, which resulted in severe back spasms.

I suggested that he stop eating the flaxseeds and reduce the amount of roughage in his diet for a time to let his system calm down. He was pain-free within a week.

Quick Tips for Eating Well

• Eat something within 1 hour of getting up each morning
• Have at least one healthful snack between meals each day
• Eat slowly to allow yourself to be aware of feeling full
• Avoid the clean-plate club. Always leave at least one bite of each type of food on your plate at the end of each meal.
• Keep a food journal for at least 1 week, maybe longer

Author Bio
Dr. Todd Sinett is the owner of the Midtown Chiropractic Health and Wellness practice in New York City (http://www.midtownchiro.com/), which provides chiropractic care and applied kinesiology, nutritional and supportive counseling, and physical and massage therapy to thousands of individuals, including noted sports figures and celebrities. The center hosts weekend wellness programs and corporate informational seminars and publishes a periodic online newsletter, Balance in the Body (http://www.balanceinthebody.com/). Sinett has appeared as clinical expert on many television programs including The View, FoxMD, and Good Day New York. Visit his website at http://www.drsinett.com/.

For more than forty years, Dr. Sheldon Sinett was a leading chiropractor and pioneer in combining chiropractic medicine with a variety of cutting-edge, holistic practices.

For more information, visit http://www.thetruthaboutbackpainbook.com/

Copyright 2008 Todd Sinett, DC, and Sheldon Sinett, DC