10 Great Exercises to Reduce Chronic Back Pain
People of all lifestyles can suffer from chronic back pain. People with desk jobs may have neck pain from poor sitting posture, neck forward and shoulders rounded. Someone with prior injuries but no exercise history may need to gain core strength. Weight lifters who deadlift regularly can have muscle imbalances due to lower back muscles being far stronger than surrounding core muscles. Paratroopers can end up with relative stiffness from disproportionately landing on one side. Regardless of your walk of life, the core exercises may improve your core stability and reduce pain.
Talk with your doctor and personal trainer for a more personalized workout program.
Coordination Drills and Balance Exercises
I know. You just read about various "bio-mechanical issues" and probably hoped to see some new ab exercises. They're coming. But muscular strength and endurance is most effectively applied on a stable foundation of support, balance. Its easy to understand why this is essential to athletes and military personnel - safety. Senior citizens must also prioritize balance training.
Why should senior citizens perform balance exercises? In 2019, "there were over 318,000 ED visits, over 290,000 hospitalizations, and over 7700 deaths related to hip fractures among older adults in the USA," mostly caused by falls. Why? Past our prime years, the ability to balance in place and motion can diminish rapidly for various reasons - sedentary lifestyle, combination of medical conditions, etc. This is why its important fore retirees to find ways to stay physically and socially active. "Use it or lose it" applies to cardiac (heart) and skeletal muscles, and the brain.
Senior fitness programs should include exercises training different types of balance at least 1-3 times a week. My top balance exercises for seniors:
- Pilates bird dog is a safe, low-impact method for testing balance with straight-forward progressions.
- Heel-to-toe tandem gait (tightrope walk) can be practiced anywhere.
- Single-leg stance, or flamingo stand, with the knee up instead of holding the lower leg back warms up the quadriceps (front of thighs) isometrically for resistance training.
- Multi-directional and one-legged deadlift and squat variations with safe progression aids overall athletic performance and physical training goals.
I've found that many elders who understand the importance of training balance to improve quality of life will incorporate such exercises into their daily regimen outside of the gym. That frees up time during gym sessions to focus on other goals. Elders unconvinced should fill out a risk of falling questionnaire and discuss concerns with their doctor.
Want to challenge your balance, core strength, and coordination skills? The medicine ball arch chop works the entire posterior chain - erectae spinae (lower back muscles), hamstrings (back of thighs), and glutes - as well as mid-back (pull-up) muscles, upper-back muscles (traps), shoulders, hips, adductors, and abductors. Amp it up as a power move up by using a slamball instead.
Abs Exercises
The section you probably expected me to start with, transverse abdominal and rectus abdominis (abdominal) exercises. My favorite ab exercises involve significant time under tension, oftentimes while only bracing the core. They're geared more toward stabilization for functional strength. Those seeking "washboard abs" and the v-cut may need to focus more on nutrition.
- The hollow body hold are far more difficult than the regular plank if you're doing them correctly. That means keeping the lower back pushed into the floor. If the normal version is too difficult, work up to them with hollow body hold progressions.
- The TRX plank is a variation for those uncomfortable putting pressure on their elbows or unable to get up from the floor. Move your feet further back to increase difficulty.
- Ab hip twists have been a favorite of mine since I've discovered it. All core muscles must work together to hold your body up and support the 360 degree movement. Warning: its rough.
There's some truth to the phrase "abs are made in the kitchen." Exercising builds lean muscle mass which somewhat boosts resting metabolism. But we must unlearn the spot reduction myth. Hundreds of crunches daily will not burn fat around the stomach. For best results when "sculpting" or "toning" the midsection, audit your nutrition and cardio workout plan and exercise.
Lower Back Exercises
Opposite to the 6-pack muscle group are the lower back muscles, partially responsible for healthy posture. Low back strength obviously has real-world advantages. However, lower back endurance does more than strength for reducing low back pain. All of these at least work the entire posterior chain..
- The Life Fitness Back extension machine is the best back workout machine I've used. Its easy to teach to gym newbies. Its non-intimidating for people learning how to use their lower back muscles. I think using over 100 pounds on this exercise machine may require more effort than its worth to keep your hips in the seat. Once you're able to use over 100 pounds with good form, I recommend advancing to deadlift variations.
- A roman chair / glute-ham chair / back extension apparatus can lurk in the most random locations in the gym. This exercise locks your hips in place and resistance starts with your bodyweight. This works well for strong enough individuals who struggle to hip hinge properly during deadlifts. If you have equilibrium issues, also known as balance disorders, skip this.
- Unlike common quad-dominant squats, deadlifts are hip-dominant. I recommend starting with the romanian deadlift (RDL), a deadlift variation with shorter range of motion (ROM). Get comfortable with the movement. Then, advance to conventional deadlifts (CDLs) and other variations. Some gym patrons do this on a smith machine, where the barbell moves up and down on a near-vertical axis. Smith machine back workouts aren't comfortable for me. I'd rather do 1-legged RDLs with dumbbells.
Oblique Exercises
Those with weight loss goals will say they want to get rid of their love handles or muffin top. But its easy to forget to train the oblique muscles. I understand a few reasons why. I've visited quite a few gyms with no exercise equipment targeting oblique muscles. Though they work together, ab workouts should include oblique-specific work but oftentimes don't. This sucks because many spinal injuries result partially from the inability to resist rotation.
- Oblique cable twists, also known as wood choppers, improve your ability to rotate. Because cable machines are popular, I usually do these with more portable and accessible resistance tubes or bands. You can do this from low To high if it suits your athletic goals. This is one that many golfers and pickleball players I've worked with wish they'd prioritized sooner.
- Cable pallof presses are the opposite of cable twists. They improve anti-rotation or anti-twist ability. Again, I prefer to use resistance bands or tubes.
- The side plank is a anti-lateral or anti-lean exercise. Get in position. Hold the position.
- The TRX side plank works well within TRX-based circuit training and is easy to regress.
- The back hyper / roman chair can be used for side bends. I prefer this over doing side bends standing upright because the roman chair locks the hips in place to truly isolate the obliques. Basically, its harder to cheat.
Want to challenge yourself further? Try offset versions of basic exercises like rows.
Don't forget lower back stretches. One notable example: hanging from a bar.
I hope these exercises increase your quality of life. Contact me with any question.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.
