4 Popular Exercises That Should Be Avoided With Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is no joke. It is serious and can potentially make you bedridden and immobilized.  Lower back pain is one of the most common causes of job-related disability and the reason why some people would miss their work. It is also the most common neurological ailment, second to a headache. In a matter of fact, most adults will experience lower back pain at some point in time.

For the fortunate, pain in the lower back may be resolved by itself or with some aid of medication within two to four weeks. Still, there are some cases of lower back pain that last for more than a few weeks. Such cases are referred to as ‘chronic’ and ‘progressive’, meaning it can only grow worse over time.

60-80% of the mentioned cases involving patients who suffer their first experience of lower back pain may experience it again within one year.

Current research shows that there are certain muscles in the back that work to stabilize the spine. When the back or the spine suffers an injury, these muscles are inactively inhibited or shutdown.  What’s worse is that these muscles do not instinctively recover and this is true even if the patients do not feel any more pain and are able to return to normal daily activity levels.

Due to the inhibition of these muscles which are called lumbar multifidus and the transversus abdominus muscles, lower back pain occurs. To counter this, there are steps that you can take to prevent the same thing from recurring.

If you are having lower back pain problems exercising is a must. You need to get into a habit of exercising. My intent is not to discourage you from living an active life, but to warn you about some of the exercises that should be avoided.   There are some movements that shouldn’t be done if one has lower back pain problems.

Sit-ups

Most people do these incorrectly and put a lot of pressure on their hips and lower spine.  Sit-ups are great for strengthening abdominal and core muscles. Next time you do them, raise your legs like in the picture. This will make you do the exercise properly.

Leg Lifting

Don’t lift both legs up when laying down. It puts a huge amount of pressure on your lower back. This can also be very harmful. Leg lifts are a very popular exercise that strengthens the abdominal muscles. Instead of lifting both legs, bend one and lift the other. The lift shouldn’t be higher than 7 inches off the ground.  Hold this position for up to 3 seconds, switch, rinse and repeat. This will get rid of a lot of pressure from your spinal region and it makes this exercise pretty much harmless.

Avoid Heavy Lifting

This is not only a weight room but a daily routine. We pick things up every day and it puts a big amount of pressure on our lower back region if done incorrectly. Instead of bending down with your back, you should use your legs – squat down. By doing this all of the pressure and weight is put on your legs and not on your painful lower back.  If you often go lifting, lower the weights on any exercises that put pressure on the lower back region. If it hurts it means you should stop.

Toe Touches

This is one of the most popular stretches around. Sadly it is not so good for you. This should be avoided it overstretches your hamstrings and back muscles and in addition, it puts a great pressure on your spine and ligaments.

The conclusion to What To Avoid With Lower Back Pain Problems

Use your common sense, if you do tasks that hurt your lower back, just stop. You can either think of a way to do them differently – a way that won’t put any pressure on your lower back or just avoid them completely. In conclusion keep in mind that exercising is crucial when having such problems, just remember to rest your back from time to time. I hope now you know what to avoid with lower back pain problems and you are on your way to living a pain-free life.

4 Popular Exercises That Should Be Avoided With Lower Back Pain, Last Updated: 4/1/2018