Are your exercises preventing your back from healing?
When you have pain, are there exercises that hurt your back?
The short and easy answer is “Yes”! The exercises you do regularly can damage your back if you’ve recently been injured or are in significant pain. Many patients continue with their usual exercise routine even in a “flareup” or after an injury. This could actually delay the normal healing time of your back pain. For the sake of brevity, I’ll be talking about low back pain, but some of the basic principles can be applied to most areas of joint pain. A proper lower back diagnosis is recommended before continuing or changing your training program.
Back pain when leaning forward (intolerant to flexion).
This is a very common type of lower back pain. The pain will be worse when you lean forward, and you may feel pain in your buttocks or thighs. Any symptoms that radiate further or include bowel changes or bladder changes, see your doctor as soon as possible. Many common stretches involve bending the lower back. Avoiding this movement in the early stages of a back injury is paramount. Many patients simply will not get better until they stop doing this exercise.
Exercises to avoid with a flexion-type lumbar injury.
First, avoid all exercises that bend your back forward at the waist. These include sit-ups, toe touches, and seated forward bends. Any exercise that involves a forward posture is not recommended. Some of the other exercises to avoid with a flexion injury are:
Reading bike while leaning forward.
The toes touch each other standing or sitting.
Any abdominal exercise lying on your back.
Pulling one or both knees to the chest.
Seated leg press.
Lying on your back and raising one knee while doing trunk rotations.
Fence stretch.
Many or at least a couple of these have probably been recommended by your chiropractor or physical therapist. If you have the type of lower back pain I described, try staying away from these for a couple of weeks and see if it helps. After recovery, these exercises are totally fine to resume.
Our chiropractic office in Rapid City, SD offers relief and guidance for this and many other ailments or injuries. Dr. Gruba is also a licensed acupuncturist in Rapid City.
There is often no need to suffer from chronic low back pain. I recommend starting with a proper diagnosis and treatment. It’s always best to take an active approach at home, including the necessary exercises and stretches. But, with the wrong guidance, your back pain can be a long-term problem and can even alter your future.
To your health,
Greg Gruba D.C.