How to relief back pain?

"Gluteal muscles raised us to human dignity and sat on the civilisation's chair." – Prof. A. Seyfried. Are you permanently bothered by lumbar vertebrae pain? Do you feel stiffness and painful muscle tension around the hip joint? Do you avoid prolonged sitting or standing due to discomfort, increasing pain, a need for continuous position change?

If you answered positively to any of these questions, muscular imbalance, may be the problem. Sounds strange? Let me explain:

Seated work, poor posture during the day, lack of physical activity but also incompetent training can lead the lumbar vertebrae muscles' to overload. This is called the Lower Crossed Syndrome. It can be confused with intervertebral disc disease of the lumbar section – it also causes pain in this area. In fact, it's the wrong distribution of muscle toning, which excessively shortens and strains the iliopsoas: thigh and back muscles of the lumbar section, while stretching and weakening the abdominal muscles, gluteal muscles and the back thigh muscles. The Syndrome entails a bad overall posture: excessive ante-version of the pelvis, deepened lumbar lordosis, weakened abdominal muscles.

Here are examples of exercises that will easily tone the described muscles' imbalance. It is important to begin by muting the painfully strained and contracted muscles – the iliopsoas and thigh muscles.

Muscle rollover:

Base your body on a roller/ball and move gently to massage the front/upper thigh and internal spike of your hip. Stop movement in areas particularly painful for 30 seconds or until it is silenced. Perform this exercise for 3-5 minutes loosening the right and left leg.

Stretching the thigh and hip-lumbar muscles:

Knee in the position shown on the picture, push out and open the hip forward, keep the torso erected. In a more difficult version, try to tighten the heel towards buttocks while preserving the previously described starting position. Hold on for 30 seconds stretching the right and left leg.

Then, rebuild the strength of your weakened and stretched muscles:

While lying on your back with your feet resting on the ball, pull your heel to the buttocks and push the hips up so that your thighs, hips and chest are arranged in a straight line. Exhale during the phase of raising. Repeat the movement 10 times in 3 sets.

Strengthening the abdominal and gluteal muscles:

While lying with your back on the BOSU, raise your hips and shoulders up simultaneously. Try to “collapse” your body as much as possible, pull the pelvis and sternum together. Exhale at the time of muscle contraction. Repeat the exercise 15 times in 3 sets.

These few steps will allow you to forget about your pain, improve your posture and exercise performance.

To achieve faster results it is advise to train 10 minutes every day. After some time, we can reduce frequency to 1-2 sessions in a week. It will be good prevention and it will keep the effect of improvement.

If you have any questions, please contact out Professional.

Iwona Przybysz
Physiotherapist, Personal Trainer
Holmes Place Hilton
i.przybysz@holmesplace.pl