Your Journey to a Better Back: Part 5- Back strengthening exercises

Once you’re feeling better and don’t have particular pain, you can try these two exercises that target the deep back muscles.  They shouldn’t be painful, but rather just challenging for your muscles to do several repetitions or hold for awhile.  If either exercise is creating pain, check with your Physiotherapist to make sure they are appropriate exercises for you!  Enjoy!

Your Journey to a Better Back: Part 4- Your back muscles are not that weak

It is surprising to many people to learn that your back muscles are likely not the cause or driver behind back pain.  Your brain recognizes that pain is not normal and can go into “protective” mode and the muscles can spasm or not work normally as a result, but they are not often the cause of the issue.  Check out this video below to explain more:

Your Journey to a Better Back: Part 3- The “Sloppy” Push Up

We all know that there isn’t likely one movement or exercise that is appropriate for everyone, but the “sloppy” push up can be helpful for many people.  People tend to sit slouched and spend WAY too much time with their spine rounded forward, so this is a nice movement to get out of that, and nothing you happen to do in your day puts your back near there unless you make a point of it!

Remember, the “sloppy” push up should not be painful.  If it is, it’s best to consult with your Physiotherapist to see if this exercise is appropriate for you at the moment.

 

The 5 Essentials of Healthy Desk Work

  1. Sitting posture is key! We all know it’s not a great thing for the body to sit for many hours every day, so at least have most of that time with minimal stressors on your body.  Sit with a supplemental lumbar support so that your spine can easily maintain the natural inward curve in the lower back that is present when you stand.  When you correct from the bottom, it helps to align everything higher up.  More than that, keep moving around in your chair—rock your pelvis forward and back or side to side every now and then—just keep things moving a bit.  
  2. Breathing is underrated! If you’re sitting in a slouched posture for long, you aren’t able to take in a maximal breath to expand your lower lungs.  Not cool.  As soon as you sit up straighter, it allows the lowest part of your lungs to expand fully when you take a deep breath—this is important to bring oxygen to tissues, calm your nervous system, and help blood flow.
  3. Your desk set-up is important: the ergonomic design of your work station should keep your head neutral looking straight ahead, your shoulders relaxed so that your elbows are bent to ~90 degrees and you can still reach the keyboard and mouse, and your chair height allows your knees to be at or below the height of your hips.
  4. Move your body: sitting properly is WAY better than not, but it’s still not great to stay there for hours on end.  Move! Strategize to stand and move around your area when you take a phone call, or schedule a walking meeting, or drink enough water that you regularly have to get up to use the bathroom!
  5. Drink enough water: ideally we want about 8-12 cups of fluid per day in order to replenish our body’s store of fluids. These fluids help with all bodily functions:  blood regulation, digestion, breathing, muscle and joint function, and brain activity. Keep it in you!

If you’re not sure about your desk ergonomic set-up or how to use a lumbar roll to sit, speak with your physiotherapist, or check out an earlier post here

 

Say “Yes” to Exercise for Back Pain

An interesting article where I both wholeheartedly agree and don’t agree: the researchers report that “the best form of exercise is the one that you are going to stick with”. Exercise in the form of general movement is generally fantastic, but often there are specific directions/ movements that could actually help repair the problem– read more 

If this interests you, you will find the blog from July to be a great read.

View original article:  www.scientificamerican.com

 

Slipping (up) on ice?

We’ve all had injuries, either from some sports mishap or when you get tangled in the dog’s leash and fall over. What’s the first thing you do?  Reach for the ice.  We’ve always known (or thought, anyway) that icing that sprained ankle or swollen hand would be helpful to decrease pain and swelling after the injury.  After all, putting ice on restricts blood flow to the area, which helps to numb the pain and keep any swelling under control.  Were we wrong all along?

Research on how effective ice is following injury is spotty at best.  A 2012 study in The British Journal of Sports Medicine determined that there were no studies that showed the effectiveness of icing after acute injuries.  In fact, a 2013 study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that icing actually delayed recovery of muscle damage.

Wait, what? Continue reading

What 4 Things to do FIRST When Back Pain Begins

  1. Stop trying to figure out WHY and just get on with it!

Of course, pain is not normal– it’s your body telling you that something is going on. You do need to pay some attention. Most of the time back pain begins for no obvious reason– you could just wake up with it, or some harmless movement like bending forward to pick something up starts a sudden pain. When this happens, it’s scary. It’s also human nature to wonder what the heck happened, and you can wrack your brain to try to figure it out, but most of the time you won’t know for sure. Most commonly it is cumulative stressors to your back that creates the problem– it finally just has enough, then you’ll do something innocuous– like wash your foot, and you can’t get up. Try to keep moving as best as you can.

  1. How much are you sitting? HOW are you sitting?

It has been shown that people who have desk jobs have more of a risk of back pain than construction workers. Sitting is hard for your back, and your body is meant to move. In life, many people spend WAY too much time sitting– not just at the computer, but traveling to and from work or school, sitting to eat all of your meals, and all entertainment (TV, out for dinner or a pub, reading)– all sitting!

If you’ve been sitting in any chair for awhile, odds are you’re relaxed into it and assumed a slouching position. This slumped posture is the same thing as being fully bent forward as far as your back goes. Fully. Forward. Evidence shows this is a position of vulnerability for your back, and how much do you do it? Every day, likely for long periods. For details on correcting your sitting posture, refer to the post on proper sitting posture.

  1. WHERE is the pain?

Does your back pain stay local, or do you feel something in your butt? Your leg? Is it all on one side or is it both? Does it come and go, or is it truly always there? All important questions you need to assess. If you’re feeling pain away from your back into your butt or lower, that pain is likely referred from your back itself. Even if your leg hurts more than your back, it’s very common that the source of this pain is coming from your back. Location, location, location. It’s the radiating leg pain that you want to address first, and start looking at different back positions to see if any can help the pain.

  1. WHAT happens when you lie on your stomach?

This can be a weird movement for some, and many people never spend time in this position. Lying down on your stomach keeps you not weight-bearing through your back, and has your spine in a fairly neutral position. Try to be here for a few minutes, and just see if any back, buttock or leg pain starts to settle down. This is a positive sign when that happens, but don’t worry if you don’t notice any change.

The most efficient thing to do from here is get to your Physiotherapist or Chiropractor. This person should be asking you the above questions, and you can easily give them this information– this will help form an individualized program that will help you settle this pain quickly, then work to prevent this from happening again!

What is the McKenzie Method & Why Should You Care?

Physiotherapists often use a method of assessing and treatment called the McKenzie Method for people who have back pain and physical limitations– I highly recommend you check out information from their website here. In a nutshell, The McKenzie Institute International began several decades ago with Robin McKenzie, a Physiotherapist in New Zealand who developed a new way of assessment and treatment in the 1950s and advanced this thinking over the next several decades. It focuses on a thorough examination of each person individually by looking at various repeated movements and sustained positions to see how they move or their pain changes, and educating the person on exactly what to do and how often, so that progression moves along efficiently. I have found it to be an elegant system, and very helpful for many people who are suffering not just from back pain, but really any musculoskeletal issue. The McKenzie Institute International describes the system like this.

Within this McKenzie system, there is a term called “directional preference”, which is really determining if the person with back pain has one direction of movement that they can do repeatedly that will consistently decrease their pain or increase their movement. This sounds quite basic, but often the person in pain doesn’t know the direction of movement that could be helpful. Think about it—if you have a lot of back pain, you sure don’t want to do anything that might make it worse, or make the location spread out, so you tend to not move much. If your physiotherapist can help you determine if you have a directional preference that helps your pain or movement, then research shows that is a really great sign that your situation should move right along.

There is tons of research that supports the validity and reliability of the McKenzie System of MDT, and regardless of if you are suffering from a new issue or you’ve had pain for awhile, you should consider seeing a trained practitioner in this system. You can find a clinician who is either Credentialed or has a Diploma (even further education) in this system through this link.