If you are dealing with any form of back pain, you are probably wondering, “Well, shouldn’t I be staying in bed in order to feel better?” While this is true for the first day or so, it’s important to remain active at a comfortable level, so your muscles and joints do not become stiff. You also may be wondering, “What type of exercise for back pain relief would be good for me to perform?”
In order to answer the above question, you need to ask yourself specific questions such as, “Where am I experiencing pain in my back?” and “How long have I been suffering from back pain?” While you don’t want to go out and hit the gym, or play a game of tennis if you are in pain, you do want to continue to be mobile and more importantly increase your body’s flexibility and strength. It’s not so much a specific exercise for back pain relief that you should perform, but more so a specific stretch or stretches for back pain relief.
If you have been to your primary care provider, he or she has most likely given you a prescription for pain medications (if your back pain warrants that) and a print out of generic stretches and exercises for back pain. The problem with these types of exercises and stretches is that they are given to everyone with back pain, whether you have upper, lower or middle back pain.
What these generic stretches and exercises fail to do is address the real cause of your pain, the real underlying causes. And barring trauma, the real reason for your back pain are muscle imbalances! To put it simply, due to the nature of repetitive tasks that we all perform on a daily basis, some muscles become stronger than others. These imbalanced muscles over time create postural dysfunctions, such as a high hip, a forward tipped pelvis or high shoulder. These dysfunctions begin to pull the spine out of alignment, which in turn can cause various forms of back pain.
Now, one must be able to identify these dysfunctions before they can be corrected. Once they are identified, then unlike the generic stretches given at the doctor’s office, specific and targeted stretches and exercises are performed to correct specific postural dysfunctions.
Please read more about muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions by visiting the link below.
Jesse is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. His mission as a former back pain sufferer is to help others live pain free without surgery and pharmaceuticals.
