If you are like most aging individuals, you might notice that your body has started having some aches and pains. One of the most common is low back pain. The reasons for this are many, it could be from sitting at a desk all day. It could also be from standing on your feet for a number of hours. You might have just bent over to pick up your socks and your back has gone out. The pain caused by such issues can be excruciating and make moving about rather difficult.
The most common issues related to low back pain are tight hamstrings, poor abdominal strength, and misfiring glutes. People who work out regularly can have these same issues if steps are not taken to prevent overtraining of certain muscles. Common training mistakes can be too many linear exercises such as squats, deadlifts, leg extensions, hamstring curls, and lunges. It is important to make sure your training protocol is balanced by utilizing a variety of exercises and tools to hit every part of the body.
Here are my suggestions for preventing and dealing with low back pain.
- Make sure you warm-up properly before working out or working outside. This can consist of a variety of hip mobility exercises: fire hydrants, leg raises, bridges, and many others.
- When you complete the workout or task, make sure to roll with a rumble roller and stretch. The roller should be done for about 15 minutes or so. Make sure to cover all the major muscle groups. Static stretching is best at the conclusion of the activity or workout. Use a band or towel to assist in the stretching process. Each stretch should be held for 30 seconds to a minute depending on tightness of that area.
- Strengthen your core muscles. This means utilizing exercises like planks, side planks, trunk rotations, bridges, etc. When working out regularly try to incorporate core exercises into your daily routine especially for athletic performance.
- If you stand or sit all day try to balance out whatever you are not doing. This means if you sit at a desk, get up once an hour and walk around. If standing is the problem, then be sure to sit down periodically throughout the day.
If you have low back pain or any other nagging injury and haven’t had success with fixing it, try contacting Xcellerated Speed Training.