If you battle with back pain, here are some tips on how to relieve back pain at home with some simple exercises. Back pain is a terrible thing to live with and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but here are some exercises that may help you, which are a combination of Yoga and Pilates.
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What Causes Back Pain?
Back pain is usually caused by years of bad posture, a bad injury from the past, or imbalances in the body, where the muscles on one side of your body are stronger than the ones on the other, which causes you to favor one side.
Other things that cause back pain include the following:
- Obesity – this causes strain on the weight-bearing muscles of the back
- Muscle strain – this is very common as you could bend or stretch in the wrong way and pull your back out.
- Herniated disk – this could require surgery.
- Osteoporosis
- Scoliosis
- Spondylosis – this is caused when the cushioned spaces between the disks thin.
- Spondylolisthesis – this is also known as a slipped disk.
- Spinal Stenosis – the narrowing of the vertebral column puts pressure on the nerves.
- Osteomyelitis – an infection, normally needing antibiotics.
- Cancer in some cases.
Most of the above conditions will require some sort of medical attention and will not get better with exercise alone.
Another common cause of back pain is sitting. If you sit most of the day, beware, as the constant compression on the vertebral column is not good over time.
Many offices worldwide are changing to standing desks like this one below because of this fact. Click on the picture to find out how you can get one just like it.
The other thing that more and more people are doing is swapping out their desk chairs for an exercise ball.
Sitting on an exercise ball relieves pressure on your lower spine and strengthens your core and stability muscles.
The one here comes with a stability ring which helps to keep the ball still.
If you do have a desk job, make an effort to move around as often as you can and not sit in one position for too long.
How To Relieve Back Pain
This advice on how to relieve back pain at home is by no means an instant cure to back pain, but over time your back will definitely improve. These exercises are mostly targeted to the most common back pain – lower back pain.
Pretzel
Lie on your back and bring your knees up to your chest to stretch your back. Without putting your feet on the floor, keep one leg pulled up to your chest and cross the other leg over the one that is pulled to your chest so that your ankle is touching your shin just below your knee.
Hold the stretch for ten to fifteen seconds and switch legs. Many people teach a stretch that merely brings the legs to the chest while you’re lying on your back, but crossing the one leg over the other gives a much deeper stretch.
Spinal Twist
Start in a sitting position with both legs straight in front of you and your hands on the floor. Bend one leg at the knee and cross it over the other, so that the ankle of your bent leg touches the thigh of your resting leg.
Lean over to one side as far as you can without lifting your hands from the floor. Hold the stretch for ten to fifteen seconds, then stretch to the other side.
Next, twist to one side gently as far as you can without lifting the hips, hold for between ten and thirty seconds and then turn to the other side. Many traditional stretching programs teach you to lean forward to stretch, but this is a better way to stretch the lower back without any tension.
Bridging
Bridging is a brilliant exercise for stretching the hip flexors and strengthening the core muscles of the lower back and buttocks.
It is done by lying on the back with feet and arms flat on the floor with the legs bent close to your bottom. Gently lift the pelvis into the air, holding for a few seconds. When lowering the bottom to the floor try and roll down gently through each vertebra of your spine, starting from the top and working slowly down to the coccyx.
Partial Crunches
Lie on your back, and keep your feet flat on the floor with your knees bent. Place your hands behind your head for support or if you don’t need support you can cross your arms over your chest.
Keeping your tummy muscles tight raise your shoulders off of the floor. Hold for a second and lower back to the floor in a controlled manner.
Breath out while you come up and in when you go down.
Make sure to keep your lower back pressed into the floor and your feet and tail bone flat. Repeat this at least 12 times slowly.
The Cat
The cat stretch begins on all fours with the knees and hands on the ground.
Rounding and then relaxing the back, while inhaling and exhaling, strengthens the back and abdominal muscles.
When you round up, think of pulling your belly button up towards your spine. Round from the lower spine through to the upper spine and try to keep the shoulders relaxed. Go back to a neutral spine starting with the lower back first.
Relax The Back
Curling up into a ball and rounding your back is a great way to relax and stretch out the spine. Do this one every day if you can.
How to Relieve Back Pain at Home With Other Exercises
Depending on how bad or chronic your back pain is, other aerobic exercises such as cycling, walking and swimming will also help to reduce back pain.
If you need to do more, try out a yoga or Pilates class, as the stretching and core work will go way to strengthen the core and put less strain on the back.
For more great exercises for entrepreneur health, click here.
