Posts Tagged "lower back pain causes"

why is it harder to put your shoes on in the morning than nightimes?

Posted by mark in Neck Pain Essentials |

One of the best ways to get lower back pain and sciatica.

Why does your back hurt more in the mornings? I am going to explain to you why doing certain back exercises after just getting out of bed is one of the worst things you can do for your lower back.
Have you ever wondered why it’s easier to take your socks and shoes off at the end of the day as compared to when you put them on in the morning? Overnight you get taller and during the day you shrink! In fact it has been measured that by the end of the day you can be up to 2cms shorter (Reilly, tynell and troup, 1984). Put simply, overnight your discs fill up with fluid and during the day that fluid gets pushed back out again. It has been noted that 54% of this fluid disperses from the discs in the first half hour after waking.
Here is the important part!
That extra fluid in those discs puts a lot more stress on the spine and its ligaments. In fact, Adams and colleagues have measured that the disc bending stresses are increased by 300% and ligament stresses by 80% in the morning compared to the evening! It has also been well documented that a great majority of lower back injuries happen in the mornings.
Here is the tip:
Avoid full lumbar flexion in the mornings. You should already know that you should bend at your hips keeping your back straight (retaining the inward lordotic curve) to avoid putting pressure on your discs and ligaments. In the mornings it’s even more important. Did you know that by bending forwards at the hips with a straight lower back puts virtually no stress on the discs or ligaments? However, if you bend at the lower back putting the spine into flexion the shearing forces that you put on the discs and ligaments are enormous. This is one reason why many people bend forwards just to pick up something light like a pencil and ‘bang’, their back ‘goes out’. It is simply the straw that broke the camels back. It is the same with a person who has a heart attack, the plaque builds up over years and then one day it just happens out of the blue seemingly. Your back can only take so much. Whether its bending forwards poorly all day at your job or lifting poorly or slouching, all of these have cumulative effects on your ligaments until finally your back gives in and ‘goes out’. And it’s completely avoidable!
Therefore if you like to go gardening in the mornings and bend forward pulling out weeds, make certain you are either bending at the hips or go down onto your knees or if you can, get into a squatting position to protect your back. Another alternative is to bend forwards the way golfers pick up the ball. That is, have a straight back and bend forwards on one leg with the other leg extended behind you which acts as a cantilever. It’s an excellent back-saver.
I have written in other posts on lower back pain that bringing your knees to chest, touching your toes with a rounded lower back, rolling up into a ball etc puts enormous damaging forces on your lower back discs and ligaments and you should not do them-period. If you do these first thing in the morning you are putting yourself at an even higher risk of damaging your back-300% higher!
Ok, so…

No slouching, no bending forward with a curved lower back and definitely no sit ups!

But for now,

Rest assured I am watching your back

no more back pain and beer bellies

Posted by mark in Lower Back pain and your core | 0 comments

No more Back pain and beer bellies

I was unsure exactly what I should use as the title for this. I could have easily called it ‘lose pounds and your back pain whilst doing the shopping’ or ‘get a free workout and be pain free whilst waiting in line at the bank’ or even, ‘no more lower back pain, a six pack stomach and bulging biceps whilst carrying your box of beer!’ but I thought that may have been overdoing it a touch.

I am used to carrying my baby around a lot these days, he is not quite walking properly and quite frankly, when you are in a busy supermarket with lots of people around and you want to get in and out as soon as possible its much easier to carry him. However, if not done correctly this will very quickly lead to back pain just like pregnant women can suffer from for the same reasons and it’s completely avoidable!

Many women suffer from back pain when they are pregnant, so do men with large beer guts and so do I when I carry my baby or other things in front of me if I am not careful. This type of lower back pain is very easy to fix once we remove the causes. I am sure many of you reading this do exactly the same because it requires less muscular effort, in short-it’s easier! Just like slouching in a chair may be easier for some but both will result in back pain. Slouching as you know is from putting the spine in an overly flexed (or rounded) position which takes your muscles completely out of the picture and leaves you resting on your ligaments and straining the discs. If you have read my other articles about lower back pain and sciatica you will also know that this as well as picking up things and bending forwards with a rounded lower back instead of bending at the hips (retaining your lower back inward curve at all times) will put you right on track to herniating your lower back disc or discs. However, if you retain your inward arch on forward bending when you have to pick something up( using the lunge, squat or golfers pick-up technique) and a certain amount of abdominal bracing to secure your spine(more of this in a later article) it is virtually impossible to hurt your discs or ligaments!

But, when you carry something in front of you like a baby you do the opposite-you lean backwards to take the strain off your arm muscles. This then puts strain on your lower back by compressing the facet joints and soft tissues. So you there are two very easy ways to remedy this. Firstly, stand up straight which will immediately take the strain off your lower back. In doing this, you will then have to use your abdominal muscles to keep you upright and standing tall which is exactly what you should be doing. Now you are finally using those core muscles for what they are intended to do functionally. And herein lies one of the big secrets to why people go to Pilates, yoga and do abdominal strengthening exercises but still have lower back pain. It’s no good to spend an hour each day strengthening your core muscles if you don’t then use them functionally during your day to day activities. When you carry things in front of you, use your stomach muscles instead of leaning back and resting on your joints to keep you from falling forward. Likewise, if you carry something on your side like a baby on your hip for example, don’t tilt your body to the opposite side to counteract the weight-use your core muscles to keep you upright. For all of those mothers(and fathers) out there who are carrying babies around and want to go to the gym but can’t, just remember that every time you use your core muscles like this you are burning extra calories and getting a free workout! And men, the next time you carry that box of beer, or tools, or groceries remember to stand upright, engage your abdominals and you will not only be saving your back but you will also be working on that six pack and toning those biceps!

Ah yes, I can hear the excuses now …

‘Honey, I am going down to the liquor store to buy a case of beer because I need to burn off some calories and work on my abs and my biceps’.

…no need to thank me guys, happy to help.

one of the best ways to get lower back pain and sciatica

Posted by mark in Lower Back pain and your core | 0 comments

Why does your back hurt more in the mornings? I am going to explain to you why doing certain back exercises after just getting out of bed is one of the worst things you can do for your lower back.

Have you ever wondered why it’s easier to take your socks and shoes off at the end of the day as compared to when you put them on in the morning? Overnight you get taller and during the day you shrink! In fact it has been measured that by the end of the day you can be up to 2cms shorter (Reilly, tynell and troup, 1984). Put simply, overnight your discs fill up with fluid and during the day that fluid gets pushed back out again. It has been noted that 54% of this fluid disperses from the discs in the first half hour after waking.

Here is the important part!

That extra fluid in those discs puts a lot more stress on the spine and its ligaments. In fact, Adams and colleagues have measured that the disc bending stresses are increased by 300% and ligament stresses by 80% in the morning compared to the evening! It has also been well documented that a great majority of lower back injuries happen in the mornings.

Here is the tip:

Avoid full lumbar flexion in the mornings. You should already know that you should bend at your hips keeping your back straight (retaining the inward lordotic curve) to avoid putting pressure on your discs and ligaments. In the mornings it’s even more important. Did you know that by bending forwards at the hips with a straight lower back puts virtually no stress on the discs or ligaments? However, if you bend at the lower back putting the spine into flexion the shearing forces that you put on the discs and ligaments are enormous. This is one reason why many people bend forwards just to pick up something light like a pencil and ‘bang’, their back ‘goes out’. It is simply the straw that broke the camels back.  It is the same with a person who has a heart attack, the plaque builds up over years and then one day it just happens out of the blue seemingly. Your back can only take so much. Whether its bending forwards poorly all day at your job or lifting poorly or slouching, all of these have cumulative effects on your ligaments until finally your back gives in and ‘goes out’. And it’s completely avoidable!

Therefore  if you like to go gardening in the mornings and bend forward pulling out weeds, make certain you are either bending at the hips or go down onto your knees or if you can, get into a squatting position to protect your back. Another alternative is to bend forwards the way golfers pick up the ball. That is, have a straight back and bend forwards on one leg with the other leg extended behind you which acts as a cantilever. It’s an excellent back-saver.

I have written in other posts on lower back pain that bringing your knees to chest, touching your toes with a rounded lower back, rolling up into a ball etc puts enormous damaging forces on your lower back discs and ligaments and you should not do them-period. If you do these first thing in the morning you are putting yourself at an even higher risk of damaging your back-300% higher!

So to have a happier lower back:

No slouching, no bending forward with a curved lower back and definitely no sit ups!

For more information please feel free to email me at

http://boquetespa.com

Mark Perren-Jones

Sit ups and back pain

Posted by mark in Lower Back pain and your core | 0 comments

 Lower back pain and sit ups

Here is a sure fire way to destroy your lower back discs.

In my post about sit ups I explained how you will ruin your back if you are doing sit ups, abdominal curls and the like. Studies have shown categorically that the forward bending in sit ups puts enormous pressures on your lower back and can in fact damage it. If you are still doing sit ups-STOP! There are much better ways to strengthen your core without having to resort to sit ups. If you are after the six pack stomach you can still have that as well. Have you ever stopped and wondered why there are people that do 500 sit ups in the gym and still suffer from lower back pain? After all, aren’t strong abs meant to protect your back? If a person has a wash board stomach they couldn’t suffer from lower back pain surely? The answer is very simple. Sit ups damage your back!

I have written an article in much more depth on this subject but I wanted to add this.

When you wake up in the mornings you are a little bit taller than when you went to sleep. During the day due to the forces of gravity you shrink. yep that’s right. You wake up taller than when you go to bed. Of course this does not mean you will need to be shortening the hem in your pants by the end of the day but it is a very real phenomenon. During the night your discs absorb fluid and nutrients and get fatter. They fill up. This has ramifications for your lower back. With the extra fluid there is more pressure and your lower back is at a higher risk of injury. This is one of the reasons that there are many lower back injuries in the morning that any other time of the day.

Those of you who are still doing sit ups are not only hurting your back but if you do them in the mornings you are putting your back at even greater risk! There are many myths about abdominal workouts and lower back protection. In order to protect your back you need to have your core muscle groups strengthened in a safe manner that will protect you in your daily activities. And the core muscles are not just your transverses abdominus.