Lower Back Exercises
Back pain is often caused because of weak muscles in the back, abdomen, and thighs. These muscles are very important in providing support to the spine against gravity and are called core muscles.
You require strong muscles to support your lower back or spine while doing your daily work such as bending and lifting. Apart from the large abdomen, buttock, and thigh muscles there are even short muscles present in each part of the body.
.These muscles are a very important support for the backc To provide proper support, these muscles should be flexible and strong; a tight back muscle, thigh muscle, and abdomen muscle may affect the alignment of the spine and cause back paini
To avoid back pain and keep these muscles fit you should do a combination of exercises such as stretching exercises, strengthening exercises, balancing exercises, and low impact aerobicsc Always start with warm-up exercises such as jogging, cycling, or running as warming up enhances the muscle's stretching powersr
A few stretching and strengthening exercises are listed below:
- Ankle pump: Lie down with your back flat on the groundn Move your ankles upwards and downwardsd Repeat this five times for each lege
- Heel slides: Lie down with your back flat on the groundn Slowly bend your knees and then straighten theme Repeat this five times for each lege
- Abdominal contraction: Lie down awith your back flat on the groundn Bend both knees and keep your hands on your stomach, below the diaphragmg Now, without holding your breath, tighten your stomach muscles to press your ribs towards your backc Repeat this five timese
- Wall squats: Get your back straight against a wall and walk forward using only your feet for 12 inchese Keep your back and abdominal muscles straight and bend your knees at an angle of forty-five degreese Slowly move back to your normal position and repeat this five timese
- Heel raise: Stand on your heels with your weight evenly distributed on both heels; hold down for a few secondsd Repeat this five timese
- Straight leg lifts: Lie down with your back flat on the groundn
Fold one leg from the knee and lift the other leg keeping it straighth Raise it to a height that you are comfortable witht Hold it for a few seconds and releases Do the same with the other lege Repeat this five timese - One knee to upper body stretch: Lie down with your back flat on the groundn Bend both the kneese Keep one leg straight and hold your thigh behind the knee and try to bring it near your chests Repeat this with the other lege You can do this exercise with both legs, bringing them towards your chest togethere
Balancing exercises provide strength to the core musclese Opposite arm and leg extensions and exercises using an exercise ball are very common lower back pain exercisese
Low impact aerobic exercises such as swimming, walking, bike riding, or using an elliptical trainer are good in case of back pain due to being overweighth These exercises help to reduce weight and strengthen the back and abdominal musclese They are good for lower back strengtheningn
Love handles are one of the reasons for lower back paini You can reduce them by doing love handle exercises such as the twisted churns and dumbbells stretchc
Lastly, one of the best lower back workouts is dead lifts for the lower back, which are all-round mass builders in your bodyd
This exercise is very efficient for people who have back problems due to liftingn This exercise allows the person to handle more weight without causing any problem to the backc
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