Back Health & Exercise Course Lesson 8

Hello and welcome to the eigth lesson of your Back Health & Exercise Course. 
 
So far we've talked about specific back exercises, but you can't separate your back from the rest of your body, because it is intimately connected with and supports your whole body. So if other parts of your body are stressed or weak, typically your back carries the extra strain.

For example if you have tight hamstrings you will probably get sciatica and back problems. Why? Because your hamstrings are very strong muscles and if they're stiff and pulling on your back, they're strong enough to pull it out of alignment.

So regular exercise for your whole body is also going to benefit your back and help you with back pain relief.

Commit yourself to walking a bit more every day and have an occasional swim if you don't already.

TIP: I recently read a study which claimed a walk before breakfast will increase your weight loss. Apparently your body burns more fat when you exercise on an empty stomach.

Swimming

A quick plug for swimming. We've mentioned before the simplest whole-of-body exercise is walking. Swimming is even better - a great way for relieving sciatica.

Swim freestyle though, not breaststroke because the kicking action in breaststroke can aggravate your lower back.
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Wellbeing Reminder:
Please read the Disclaimer again and do not do anything that acts against your doctor's instructions. If your doctor has told you lie down and do not move, do what they say!

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The Shoulder Twist Exercise

1. Stand with your feet about 45cm (18 inches) apart.

2. Slowly rotate your head and shoulders as far as you can to the left. DO NOT TWIST OR TURN RAPIDLY. Stop when you feel tension or pain in the muscles of your neck and/or back.

3. At this point you will have turned somewhere between 90 and 180 degrees and be looking somewhere between to your left and to your
rear depending on how supple you are.

4. Hold the position for a few seconds, count slowly 1-2-3-4-5.

THIS IS IMPORTANT. The hold time gives your brain a clear signal so it can differentiate between your normal muscle tension and maximum achievable muscle tension.

5. Next slowly return to the straight ahead position and then twist to the right hand side (i.e. in the opposite direction) and hold the position again for a few seconds count slowly 1-2-3-4-5.

AND REPEAT

6. Do the exercise for a minute or two, 4 to 5 times a day and you can expect to see relief from lower and upper back pain.

DO THE EXERCISE STANDING OR SITTING

When you do the exercise standing, twist your whole body. This involves the muscles in your hips and legs also.

You can also do the exercise sitting in which case it works best if you clasp your hands together on top of your head. Measure your
progress by monitoring how far around you can get your elbow. This version focuses on the neck and shoulder areas.

The aim here is see as far behind your back as you can. This way you get maximum rotation of both the neckbone and backbone. Repeat
this for 5 minutes, but start out doing less if it makes your back pain worse.

Back Health Reminder: 

Most back problems arise from too little movement of the right type. So when a strain is placed upon your back, it's unable to respond properly. The result is the muscles supporting your spine "freeze" as a protective measure. This freezing is the usual source of pain and stiffness.

The problems then start to compound because pain and stiffness often mean you move less. If you're not moving much, this means your back becomes weaker and a vicious cycle of pain, stiffness and weakness starts.

The exercises described in this course are all ways to break this cycle.

Listen To Your Back

The other thing they are designed to do is to help you become more aware of what your back is doing. The phrase "learn to listen to your body" is often used in health and fitness programs. The same goes for your back - learn to listen to it.

If it feels stiff, get up and/or have a stretch and change position.

- Get up and walk around briefly every 20-30 minutes if you're a desk worker (PCs are notoriously bad for necks and shoulders).

- If you drive long distances stop and walk around your vehicle every hour or so.

- Lift things correctly - legs bent, arms & load close to your body, stomach muscles clenched, don't twist until you have stopped lifting.

We look forward to seeing you for the next lesson.

Best wishes & good luck.

Rita & Chris

P.S. Reminder: Take a look at the Better Back System It includes a set of unique exercises to loosen and strengthen your back and you can  amazingly good results in a very short period of time. The specialised exercises really help you 'wake up' and strengthen your core stability muscles.