How to Effectively Manage Lower Back Pain

MAY 19, 2021

How to Effectively Manage Lower Back Pain

Managing chronic pain is more simple than you think.

By House Fitness

The truth is, many of us experience lower back pain — and the older we get, the more likely (and often) we are to experience it. You may have noticed that your aches and pains have gone from a yearly, to a monthly, to a weekly, and even a daily basis. And the worst culprit of them all tends to be lower-back pain — why is this?

Why Do We Experience Lower Back Pain?

LBP occurs for a number of reasons. The tough truth is that a lot of us don’t sufficiently take care of our bodies and that stacks up over the course of our adult life.

Our backs are extremely complex and made up of many components. Our spines have 33 vertebrae and between each vertebra, we have a vertebral disc. Additionally, our backs are comprised of muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Any one of these factors can lead to LBP from overstretching to pushing, pulling, or carrying something to sitting or standing for too long. There is a lot to consider. This is why we often experience pain in our lower backs first before we experience it anywhere else.

But the Main Culprit? Sitting.

Nowadays, we live such sedentary lifestyles. We have seated jobs, we sit when we work, we sit when we relax — sometimes we even sit when we exercise! We’ve built lives around comfort but our systems get stressed from under-exercising and lack of movement.

Point. Blank. Period: We sit far too much and this is hard on our bodies.

Your body adapts to whatever you put it through. If you sit down every day, your body adapts and forms to that position. A sedentary lifestyle where a lot of your life is spent sitting works against you.

It can feel very overwhelming to change your lifestyle when it revolves around sitting, but keep in mind: Even 5 minutes of movement a day is better than nothing. You are not a lost cause.

We underestimate the power of movement. We’re designed to move and we’re simply not moving enough. As humans, our bodies are designed to be upright.

The Good News: We Can Effectively Manage LBP Through a Few Key Practices…

1

Sit Less. Choose to stand whenever you can. It’s always easier to sit, but the strongest position for our backs is called ‘neutral,’ or, a ‘flat back.’ The more often you expose yourself to non-neutral positions (such as sitting with a rounded back when you’re folded over a computer desk or hunching on your commute to work), the more you expose your body to pain because there’s more pressure between your vertebral discs.

2

Find an activity or an exercise that you enjoy doing. Find something that speaks to you that you can incorporate daily. Anything that gets you on your feet and moving cannot be understated.

3

Try yoga or another practice that will increase mobility. Yoga is fantastic for exposing your body to a bunch of different positions and movements. Even five minutes of yoga is incredibly beneficial. It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment and it can still make a massive difference.

4

Get adequate sleep. Sleep positions. We experience less back pain if you sleep on your back though most people are stomach or side sleepers. Adequate or optimal sleep so your body can recover and restore.

5

Incorporate core stability exercises and stretches. I recommend Dead Bugs and Bird Dogs. Both of these exercises are safe and effective in strengthening and stabilizing your core and spine; helping to relieve and prevent LBP.

The bottom line: You want to move more. Daily movement is key.

Lower back pain doesn’t have to dictate your life.

You can take your control back and live a pain-free life. Incorporating movement into your life will get you back on track to enjoy the activities that you love without worry or pain.

The hardest part about managing chronic pain is that it’s actually really simple. You don’t need fancy equipment or expensive supplements — you just need to make a commitment to sit less and bring movement back into your life.