exercises to cure lower back pain, disc problems, sciatica

These exercises are for the majority of people who suffer from lower back pain. This includes those of you who suffer from disc pain, disc herniations, disc bulges and sciatica. You are generally worse when you are sitting at the computer, driving, bending forwards, working in the garden and sitting on the sofa. You are most likely better when you are on your feet standing and walking around. I call this over flex syndrome because the pain is generally caused by having the lower back in a flexed position. To learn why this produces pain and before you attempt these exercises see: lower back pain (over flex syndrome).

The other syndrome is what I call the over arch syndrome and these people will be worse after prolonged periods of standing or walking, they may be unable to sleep on their backs or stomachs because of the pain. For those of you who are primarily worse in standing and walking and perhaps better when sitting and want to understand why you have pain see: lower back pain(over arch syndrome) and to remove your pain see lower back pain exercises(over arch syndrome)

Please note that if you are suffering from sciatica these exercises are designed to reduce the symptoms in your leg or legs. The further away from the lower back your symptoms are, the more pressure on the nerve you have. For example, if you have pain/numbness/tingling al the way from the back of the leg to the ankle, it is more severe than someone who has only symptoms in their hamstring (back of thigh). So an improvement in your condition would be to see fewer symptoms in your leg/s or indeed, symptoms that are not as far down the leg as before. If you did the exercises and the pain is less severe, or the numbness/tingling is less or you had pain in the whole leg and now its just in the back of the thigh these are all very good signs and exactly what s supposed to be happening!

However, if you are getting a worsening in symptoms in your leg/s and have checked thoroughly that you are doing the exercises correctly, rest and try again tomorrow. Maybe it’s just too soon. If you are still unsure please email me and I will be glad to offer assistance

The 3 exercises!

Exercise 1: the world’s easiest exercise

Lay face down.

Yep that’s it. I love teaching my clients this because when they hear the word exercise the immediately think effort, sweat and hard work. Not with this one. You need to lay face down, turn your head to one side and relax. It doesn’t get any easier than this. Lay there for 3 minutes. What you must however do is completely relax your back buttocks and backs of legs (hamstrings). This is very important! Imagine you have a balloon between your two hands. Your hands represent two vertebras and the balloon represents your disc. If you push your fingertips towards each other your balloon will be forced backwards towards your wrists, and likewise if you press your palms together your balloon will be forced the other way out beyond your fingertips. This is what happens with your discs in your spine. If you continually bend forward causing flexion of you spine, and sit poorly (also causing flexion of the spine) your disc (or balloon) keeps getting pushed backwards. Just like the balloon and the hands however, we can help push the disc back in the other direction by implementing some extension exercises. Lying on your stomach puts your spine into slight extension, in other words it creates that slight inward arch that is so vital. If you have not relaxed your back, buttocks and backs of legs nothing can move in the direction we want because there is too much tension, everything is locked tight. So, breathe and relax. After all, how long has it been that you have had the chance to just lie down and do nothing?

Exercise 2: onto your forearms

Now you need to come up onto your forearms by placing your elbows under you shoulders. Once again you will hold this position for 3 minutes and once again remember to relax completely your back buttocks and backs of legs (hamstrings)

This places your back into a little more extension and therefore placing more extension force on the disc.

Exercise 3: the half push ups

Okay now we need to use a little more effort. This is worth it though because this is the most powerful of the three exercises t get you out of pain! From the face down position, Place your hands underneath your shoulders in the push up position. Now you want to straighten your elbows as far as pain permits pushing the top half of your body off the ground but leaving your hips on the ground. You want to keep you buttocks and backs of legs relaxed as you do this (this will take some concentration) ad you want to be creating a ‘sag’ in your lower back. Push yourself up to the point of restriction or to the edge of pain/discomfort and hold there for 2 seconds then come back down to the floor. You need to do 8 of these.

It’s very helpful to breathe out when you get to the top point of the push up to create a better sag in your back.

Repeat these exercises if you are in pain every 2 hours (6-8 times per day) until you are out of pain and then see the section what to do when I am pain free.

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Filed under: Back Pain, Exercises