Do you have lower back pain? Want to reduce or avoid it?
Sadly many jobs these days involve long periods of sitting and a large majority of my clients see me as a result of this becoming a chronic issue. Prolonged sitting reduces the load, and therefore strength, of many muscle groups, especially in the glutes and lower back. This, along with poor posture, puts stress on structures in the lower back due to these, now, weaker muscles not supporting the spine and joints in this area.
Imagine your day in a sedentary job;
Start work at 9ish and sit down until 5 (if you’re lucky)!
Finish work and have dinner (sitting down obviously).
After dinner you sit on the sofa for a few hours.
Go to bed and lie down for 8 hours
If we do the math it will mean only a couple of hours movement during the day! Our bodies are just not designed for this. We should be roaming the savannah hunting and gathering (basically MOVING)! Movement is the key to reducing neck and lower back pain.
Symptoms of this continual weakening and stress put on the joints and muscles will start to affect pain and range of movement in the lower back/glutes. Now I won’t bore you with the mechanics of this but it is something you can easily do something about to ensure negative issues can be stopped or even reversed.
If you are suffering with lower back pain there is some great advice we can give to help you get out of the “pain cycle” you may be stuck in. Please don’t get into a negative mindset that this is now the norm. You can do many things to help improve your symptoms!
It will not happen “overnight” but with some minor application things may improve quicker than you think. In my opinion, strength work is a much better idea than stretching in these early stages so Charlotte, from the MW PT team, and I have come up with some simple low level exercises that can be done in front of the TV in the evening (so no excuses ).
-Swiss ball back extension. These can easily be done without a ball on the floor!
-bird dog
-Glute bridge
These target the lower back as well as the glutes and hamstrings. All important for a pain free lower back!
If you need help or treatment you can contact me via my website www.rpsrm.com or The team at MW fitness website www.mwfitness.co.uk
Richard Pearson
RPSRM