Low back pain can flare up at any time. These flare-ups are usually short-lived and will subside after a day or two.
I want to talk to you about the most important exercise when you flare up your back.
It involved a leg press three times I’ve flared up my back. Below is a link to that leg press video about flaring up my back that time.
Here is that link: Low Back Pain and the Leg Press
What to do when your low back pain flares up?
This might sound redundant, but the first thing you need to do when a low back pain flare-up is rest. This is especially true if your flare-up is accompanied by a sharp pain in your lower back. Low back pain accompanied by sharp pain is a sign of a more serious underlying condition. Sharp pain indicates that your low back muscles are contracting in a spasm — which happens when your low back is inflamed. You need to take it easy until the pain goes away. When your pain has subsided, you can resume your normal activities. But you should pay special attention to your posture. Posture and movement are critical factors in preventing low back pain and its recurrence.
But talking about this time, when I flared up my back, the #1 exercise I found for myself and clients was trying to get into a back relaxation position.
Back Relaxation Position
So I end up lying on the floor with something to put my legs on — it could be a chair; a chair works okay.
What ends up working better is a couch. A coffee table or one of those things in front of the sofa that you put your legs on also ends up working well.
Let me show you what I end up doing. I end up lying down, and how easily you get into this position varies.
I try to relax and focus on relaxing all the muscles in my body, specifically the muscles in the hips. It can be front, side, behind, inner part, and the muscles in my low back area.
I want to connect my brain to those muscles and get them to relax and decrease the tension. I will hold this position for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Sometimes I will be in this position for about 5 minutes to put myself in that back relaxation position which is low stress on the back and allows me to begin that recovery process when it comes to a back flare-up. This exercise starts to relax the muscles, so that muscle tension is decreased, as muscle tension is one of the causes of pain in the lower back.
Start Regaining that Movement in the Back
And then the second thing is to start regaining that movement in the back because that lack of exercise also contributes to the pain. After this, I would go into those movements that address muscle tightness and loss of movement when you have a back flare-up.
Rather than waiting for the next back flare-up, try this position out and then begin moving to ease those muscles and improve mobility.
Those are the things that will help overcome your low back pain. I’ve recovered from my back flare-ups in about three days after the last three occasions.
So if you want a little bit of information on the same program I use, you can check out Low Back Pain Solved. That’s the program I use and give out to my clients when they flare up their backs. It shows what they can do to take control and recover from their back flare-ups.
If this is your first time visiting Exercises For Injuries, wander around. There are all kinds of information when it comes to a variety of injuries and exercise solutions.
Take care and bye, bye.
Rick Kaselj, MS