Stretches and Strengthening Exercises to Protect Your Back

Depending upon your current or previous injuries, level of physical fitness and whether you are already implementing a rehabilitation program, the intensity and the exercises may vary.

Please consult with your doctor of Chiropractic prior to starting a new exercise or rehabilitation program so that individualized exercises and proper instruction on the stretching techniques and exercises can be provided.

All exercises should be done with the correct form and technique and include activation of the muscle to be strengthened whilst bracing with the Abdominal Muscles. Your Breathing Rate should also remain constant; don’t hold your breath while contracting the abdominal muscles during the repetition of the exercise.

No exercise should ever be painful. If an exercise does become painful or you lose the correct form and begin making compensatory errors: STOP.

Hamstring Stretch

Lie on your back with both legs straight. Extend one leg straight up in the air. Loop a towel over the arch of the lifted foot, and gently pull on the towel as you push against it with your foot until a stretch is felt in the back of the thigh. Hold for 30 seconds. Relax. Repeat 3 times on each side.

Piriformis Stretch

The piriformis muscle runs through the buttock and can contribute to back and leg pain. To stretch this muscle, lie on your back and cross one leg over the other; gently pull the knee toward the chest until a stretch is felt in the buttock area. Hold 30 seconds. Relax. Repeat 3 times.

Back Stretch

Lie on your stomach. Use your arms to push your upper body off the floor. Hold for 10 seconds. Let your back relax and sag. Repeat 10 times.

Cat Stretch

Start on your Hands and knees. Drop your buttocks to your feet, stretch and extend your arms out in front of you and push your body downwards so that the stretch is felt in your back. This stretch can be done with lateral flexion of your trunk or with rotation. Hold for a minute.

Knees to Chest Stretch

Lie on your back and hug your knees to your chest. Stretch should be felt in your lower back. Hold for a minute.

Hip Flexor Strech/supported lunge

Take a long stride forwards so that your front knee is bent and your back knee touches the mat. Rest your hands on your front knee for stability and push your body forwards and downwards so that the stretch is felt at the top in the front of your back leg. Hold 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times on each leg

Leg Raises

Lie on your stomach. Tighten the muscles in one leg and raise it from the floor. Hold your leg up for a count of 10 and return it to the floor. Do the same with the other leg. Repeat 5 times with each leg.

Bridges

Lie on your back with your knees flexed and your feet flat on the floor. Keep the knees together. Tighten the muscles of the lower abdomen and buttocks so as to flatten your lower back against the floor. Slowly raise your hips up from the floor and hold for a slow count of 10. Repeat this exercise 3 times.

Planks

Lie on your stomach. Lift yourself on to your elbows and feet, and raise your pelvis so that your body is in a straight line. Hold for 30 seconds, repeat 3 times.

Lie on your side. Lift yourself on to your lower elbow, and lift your pelvis so that your weight is on that elbow and on the outside of your lower knee or foot. Keep your body straight. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat on each side 3 times.

The Superman

Kneel on mat on hands and knees, with palms directly under shoulders and knees hip-width apart. Slowly raise right arm, and extend it forward parallel to floor. (Balance by contracting your abdominal muscles.) Keep right palm parallel to the floor, then lift the left leg, and straighten it behind you. Hold opposing limbs off the ground for 30 to 60 seconds without arching your back. Switch sides. Repeat 3 to 6 times.

Lunges with Rotation

Hold a weight in front of your chest with straight arms at shoulder level. Take a long step forwards into a lunge position. Whilst in the lunge position turn your shoulders towards your back leg, keeping the weight at shoulder level. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each side.

Abdominal Specific Crunches

Lie on your back with your feet on an exercise ball, bend your knees and pull downwards on to the ball. Keep the tension on the ball whilst you do a crunch. Your gluteus muscles and hamstrings should be contracted while you are performing the exercise; this eliminates your hip flexor muscle from contracting and isolates your abdominals. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions each.

The Cardio Component

Engaging in cardiovascular exercise can help aid in rehabilitation of the spine and help prevent future injury. Most health care professionals recommend 20 to 30 minutes of cardio exercise three to four days per week to improve cardiovascular endurance and help lose weight. Until you’ve recovered from back pain, select low-impact activities that burn calories, but won’t place undue stress on your joints. Consider alternating cardio exercise and strength training to get the most from your workouts and to allow your muscles time to recover.

Stretching Tips

To get the maximum benefit from stretching, proper technique is essential.

• Warm up your muscles before stretching by walking or doing other gentle movements for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Slowly increase your stretch as you feel your muscles relax. Don't bounce.

• Stretch slowly and gently only to the point of mild tension, not to the point of pain.

• Don’t hold your breath. Inhale deeply before each stretch and exhale during the stretch.

• As your flexibility increases, consider increasing the number of repetitions.

• Stop immediately if you feel any severe pain. 

Chiropractic Theory

Physical, emotional and chemical factors can cause injuries to your spine and dysfunctional patterns called Subluxations to occur. A Chiropractic Subluxation consists of a collection of elements that are controlled by the nervous system; they create a dysfunctional pattern and nerve irritation which diminishes nerve function.

These can be described as subconscious bad habits or muscle memories that are controlled by the nervous system.

The nervous system is the mediator of health and vitality to all the tissues, muscles and organs. Alterations in nervous system function can alter the functionality of motor responses (muscle contraction and function), reflexes, pain reception, and touch sensation reception.

Chiropractic Adjustments/Manipulations stimulate the nerve receptors and cause an alteration in the flow of sensory nerve information or nerve signals into the spinal cord and from there to the brain. The brain corrects the dysfunction and natural healing can occur!

Adjustments can alter the dysfunctional sensory information and induce a completely new sensory input. This corrects Subluxations!

ERGONOMICS AND POSTUER

Your posture and ergonomics can dictate your bodies normal functioning. Try these simple tasks first with good and then with bad posture:

·                     Turn your head to the left and right.

·                     With your arms straight and next to your sides raise your hands above your head as high as you can.

·                     Take a deep breath in and out.

·                     Open your mouth as wide as you can

·                     Push your stomach out and pull it in.

·                     Cough

After completing these tasks you should notice that your movement, breathing and eating are all impeded by having poor posture.

Good posture is having the Centre of Gravity of each of your body segments over each other. This allows the curves of your spine to act like a spring and provide shock absorption: Having your ear over your shoulder, your shoulder over your hip, over your knee and over your ankle.

If the centre of gravity of a body segment is forward of another it is inclined to fall forward and the back muscles of the lower segment have to work to prevent this. When these muscles become fatigued they can cause pain and injury.

Ergonomics is the discipline that deals with the understanding of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system or workplace. Good ergonomics is using the correct equipment in the correct way for a task, and maintaining good habits while completing those tasks.

Having good ergonomics of your workplace promotes good posture and good habits. Having tools close at hand and varying there positions regularly to prevent over-use injuries is also advised.

2 Thumbs Up for Posture

With your Lumbar spine supported in your chair or exercise machine. Give 2 thumbs up out in front of you at shoulder level. Now bring your hands backwards to your shoulders. Your shoulders and head should move    backwards into a perfect postural position. Drop your arms and maintain your good posture.

ANATOMY OF THE SPINE

The Vertebral Column extends from the skull to the pelvis and is made up of 33 individual bones termed vertebrae.

The vertebrae are composed of many elements that are critical to the overall function of the spine, these include:

·                     the Vertebal body that transfers the majority of the body weight through them,

·                     the Bony processes which provide attachment sites for muscles tendons and ligaments,

·                     the Intervertebral discs that provides shock absorption between the vertebrae,

·                     Facet joints that guide the movement of the spine.

The facet joints are like any of the other joints of the body. They have cartilage surfaces and a joint capsule with associated supporting ligaments nerves and blood vessels.

Facet joints can be sprained like any other joint too when excessive or unusual forces are placed on them. They are responsible for the majority of Back and Neck pain.

The muscles of the vertebral column are extremely powerful as they are responsible for both movement and the support of it.

The back muscles attach to the Boney processes of the vertebrae and the Facet joints. Excessive contraction of these muscles during an accident or due to having bad posture or ergonomics can sprain the facet joints.

 If you lift a 5kg weight with bad posture; your centre of gravity falls forwards and your back muscles have to lift the 5kg weight and the weight of your whole upper body! If this force is transmitted through your facet joints they may be sprained or                                                                                      injured.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BACK PAIN

• Low back pain is the fifth most common reason for all physician visits.

•  Back pain is the most frequent cause of activity limitation in people younger than 45 years old

•  Second only to the common cold for absenteeism from work.

•  1 in 5 people have back pain at any one time (now).

•  Over 80% of people will have debilitating lower back pain at one time in their lives.

•  25% adults report having low back pain lasting at least a day in the past 3 months, and nearly 10% have have had severe acute low back pain within the last year.

•  5 % of people with back pain disability account for 75 % of the costs associated with low back pain. (MRI’s, Operations, etc)

•  Americans spend at least $100 Billion per year on back pain.

•  95% of back pain cases are Mechanical and can be effectively treated by Chiropractors.

These are some scary stats! Nearly everyone suffers from back pain! I went visiting some surgeons in my area and found out that their reoperatative rate is at least 30% of patients within 5 yrs. So one operation to "fix" the problem may not be your last. The postoperative healing and rehabilitation is a few months too.

The good news however is that your back does not need to reach this state! A strong, healthy, flexible back is not a painful one. Removing joint and nervous system irritations before they lead to injury and pain is routine Chiropractic care. You do not need to be in pain to begin seeing a Chiropractor. diagnosis of which vertebrae are irritated is done by simply feeling their movement and the local muscle tone, this can be corrected and rehabilitative measures and advise can be taken to prevent injury or re-injury.

Chiropractic increases the nerve stimulation from your back to your brain so that there is better control of your muscle tone and movements: This is what prevents injury and allows current injuries to heal.

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