Health Tips

Exercise is very good for you, as as I’m sure you appreciate, but it’s particularly powerful for back pain treatment, assuming you conform with a couple of simple rules of thumb, and do the safe routines. Here’s some easy and effective physical exercises that can make a big difference to help relieve back pain and provide some much needed chronic back pain relief:

Shift and lift: The “shift and lift” is a great exercise that really can strengthen the muscles in your lower back and hips (in particular) while you’re sitting down. This is therefore something that you can perform while you are at work, due to the nature of the ‘lifting’ element of the exercise, I would not really recommend that you do this if your peers are watching you, for example. They may get the wrong idea about you!

That aside, this is a great exercise for reducing any stiffness or soreness that will often happen from sitting in the same position for an extended period of time, and it strengthens those muscles too!

You start by sitting in your chair, relax then clench one buttock and hold for several seconds, lifting slightly together. Relax and rest for 1 or 2 seconds and then repeat. Do this 15-20 times with each buttock.

Hip sway: This is helpful exercise to do if you are standing for long periods of time, as it relieves the stress in your legs and lower back and energizes the circulation throughout the whole of your lower body. It also reduces or even eliminates chronic lower back pain that many individuals are affected by if they have to stand for any length of time.

Stand up straight, let your right knee relax and soften, while at the same time pushing your left hip out sideways. Pull the hip back in again, and repeat the same action 15-20 times. After that, let you left knee completely relax, and force your right hip out in the same manner.

Lifting: Get yourself a bag - a supermarket plastic bag, or anything else that has suitable handles for lifting will be good enough. Hold something fairly heavy in the bag - it’s not really important what you use, as long as it weighs at least a few kilos (filled plastic bottles are perfect for this, because you know that a liter bottle of water weighs almost exactly a kilo).

Start with your arm straight down by your side, bend at the knees until you can reach the bag on the floor and then lift the bag by straightening you legs. When you get back up straight, hold the standing position for a few seconds, and then bend your legs until the bag touches down again.

Repeat this for at least 15 times for one side of your body, and then repeat on the opposite side. When done correctly - that is, by bending at the knees and not from your back - this is a very good way for strengthening the mid and lower back, buns and hips, and an added bonus is that it will help tone your arms and legs.

Shrug Off: This is a really easy exercise that not only helps keep your lower back toned, it is also a powerful approach for releasing the tautness that builds across the back of your shoulders. As an added benefit, this exercise is also great for working your shoulders and arm muscles. It can also be done in either a standing or a sitting position.

Wherever you are, just shrug your shoulders all the way up to your ears (or at least as far as you can), then lift your arms up until they are at right angles to your body and turn your palms so they face outward. To finish, tilt your head to the side to touch your shoulder then hold for a few seconds. Return to the starting position and do it all over again, but this time, tilt your head to the other side.