A little prevention goes a long way, and the surest way to prevent back injury is to build a strong healthy back. One rule of thumb in our office is that everyone is on therapeutic exercises to strengthen and rehabilitate their back. These should be life long habits… just like brushing your teeth. We brush our teeth daily to keep them from decaying… well, back exercises help to keep the spine from decaying which we call degeneration.
Our back exercises are broken down into three stages. The first stage is stretching exercises. Think of a cat… the most agile animal there is. He wakes up from his nap and what does he do? He doesn't jump straight into activity… he stretches! Long, slow stretches. Three good stretches for the low back are:
1) Lie flat on your back and bring one knee to your chest. Hold to the count of five and relax. Switch legs. Do each leg 5 x's.
2) Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your buttock off the floor and squeeze buttock, back and thigh muscles. Hold to the count of five and relax. Repeat 5 x's.
3) Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Push the small of your back into the floor and hold to the count of five. Repeat 5 x's.
The second stage of exercises is one of strengthening exercises. These are very
personalized according to each patient's problem. But I will go over two very important exercises that I have everyone do. One of the reasons so many of us have back problems is because we let our abdominal get weak and flaccid and these are muscles attached to the front of the pelvis. This pulls the pelvis out of alignment and weakens the low back. (Women add insult to injury by wearing high heels all day long). So our next goal is to strengthen the abdominal and stretch out the hamstrings. Half sit-ups are ok for some people but put strain on the back and neck if not done properly. I prefer to put my patients on what I call "sit backs."
1) Sit on the floor with knees bent and feet flat. Cross arms in front and lean straight back until you feel the abdominal muscles contract. Hold to the count of five. Work up to 20-30 of these. When they get too easy, just lean back farther.
2) Hamstring stretch- sit on floor with legs straight in front. Very slowly reach for your toes. Don't force and don't bounce. Hold to the count of five. Repeat 5 x's.
The third stage of exercise is an aerobic activity. Brisk walking is one of the best forms of
exercise without putting undue stress on the joints. Also swimming and cycling are great forms of "low impact" aerobics.
Some additional tips for you gardeners. Don't stay in a bent position for any length of time without getting up to stretch and walk around. Be careful how you lift!!! Face the object straight on, bend at the knees and lift close to the body. Never twist and bend at the back to lift something. This is how many ruptures occur to the "criss-cross" annular fibers that surround the disk. Invest in a back brace for yard work as in the ones worn by employees at the large home improvement stores.
If the injury does occur… STOP what your doing. Don't "work though" the pain. Get off your feet. Ice down for the first 24-48 hrs. 20 minutes at a time, every two hours. I know heat feels good, but stay away from heat for the first couple of days. Ice helps get rid of swelling and inflammation, then later we use heat to help heal and reduce muscle spasm. If the pain does not subside, see your Chiropractor.
Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so exercise those backs and enjoy Spring!