The Importance Of Lower Back Exercises For Lower Back Pain Relief

Article by John Miller

The most effective lower back exercises are those that loosen off the muscles that have taken your pelvis out of alignment. Once the pelvis is back in alignment the bones above it will go back into better alignment. The term ‘loosening’ provides a better description of the process than ‘stretching’. To relieve back pain, loosen off tight muscles.

You’ll read all sorts of articles about stretching and how it helps you to achieve a good level of joint mobility. That of course may be true. If muscles around a joint are tight then mobility will be restricted.

You’ll see sports people stretching before they begin their training sessions and matches. You’ll see paddocks full of people trying to push over trees and walls in an effort to loosen off their calf muscles and bending forward with their legs on rails to loosen off hamstrings.

It’s all worthwhile.

However for mere mortals the main value of stretching is to keep the bones of the body in good alignment. It’s as simple as that.

The other thing we need to clarify is the term ‘stretching’. It would be better to define the process as ‘loosening’.

When you think of stretching you think of putting the string back on a bow, ready to fire an arrow. That’s not what we went to do with muscles. In fact all we want to do is create the conditions under which a muscle will gradually loosen off. For that to happen it takes time.

The initial inclination of a muscles to being ‘stretched’ is to tighten up. Imagine walking on a slippery floor and slipping. Your muscles tighten up to protect your body. You don’t gracefully do the splits.

So to create the conditions for loosening off tight muscles you need to relax and give the muscle about a minute to loosen off. Even longer is better.

For some loosening exercises you need between 1 and 5 minutes. For the static back and supine groin exercises (which your can view on YouTube) it’s recommended you relax off for 20 minutes.

Once bones move out of alignment you get all manner of joint problems. If the misalignment is bad enough you’ll experience a symptom of that misalignment – pain.

Most people don’t readily identify this pain with misalignment. They think their joint pain comes from out of the blue. All they want to do is make the pain go away.

The statements from medical research and arthritis organisations of the world shy away from diagnosing the cause of most pain associated with the vertebrae. In fact they’re useless.

Can you believe this statement from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council?

‘Specific patho-anatomic diagnosis is not necessary for effective management of acute non-specific low back pain.’

If you believed that about the mechanics of your own body, how could you ever trust your motor mechanic to work out what’s wrong with your car and fix it.

Pain in any of the joints has a cause and given the right treatment there’s a good chance it can be fixed. My rule of thumb is that for 80% of people there’s an 80% chance they can get their back – and any other joints that are painful – back to 80% of good nick.

The principal cause of back pain is bones that are out of alignment. The secret to relieving pain is getting the vertebrae back into better alignment. Once that happens pressure is taken off ligaments, tendons, muscles and herniated discs. As poor function is restored to good, the pain goes away.

Finding out which muscles are tight and may have contributed to the misalignment is not a tough assignment. Just go to a yoga class. In less than an hour you’ll come away with a very good impression of which muscles are tight and may be causing your pain.

If you keep going back to yoga class and practice it at home on most days of the week, day by day, month by month, millimetre by millimetre you’ll gradually get the bones of your body back into better alignment; the pain will start to go away.

As to what causes this tightening of muscles it’s a fair bet that it comes from prolonged sitting. Hamstring, buttock and hip flexor muscles gradually become shorter; and for shorter read tighter. It’s your job to loosen those muscles and keep them loose.

So there you have it. The most effective lower back exercises aren’t for muscles around your lower back, they’re for muscles attached to your pelvis. Loosen them off and the pelvis will get back into better alignment. Once the pelvis gets back into better alignment the bones above it will get back into better alignment.

Coupled with a total body strengthening program you’ll gradually get your body back in better alignment and pain free.

More Arthritis Lower Back Exercises Articles