According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 70-85% of adults suffer from lower back pain during some time in their lives. It is also the most frequent cause of activity limitation in people over the age of 45.
For many Americans, lower back pain is a result of being in a seated posture for most our days, without changing our body positions. The following are a few tips to prevent lower back pain:
- Change positions at least, every 30 minutes, during your workday. Cross one ankle over one knee and lean forward to stretch your glut. Stand up. Walk to the water cooler or copy machine. Take a phone call standing up.
- Stay well hydrated. Sufficient fluid in your body keeps your joints “lubricated and padded”. (This also will induce more frequent restroom breaks, which will force you to be more active during your day, and utilize your muscles.)
- Exercise regularly. This will increase circulation to those muscles that were “turned off” while your were seated throughout the day. This will also help you manage your weight.
- Maintain a healthy weight. Too much weight on your body can stress your body’s frame to the point of strain, causing back pain.
- Keep a well-balanced strength workout between the muscles of your back and abdominals.
You can also find exercises that you can do at your desk and at home that will keep your core strong and help you prevent lower back pain at the new online health club, V4 Fitness, launched by my company, Balanced Strength. You can still register for a free account through this Friday, February 13. Log on at http://v4fitness.com to set up your account. You can find the exercises by going to the Exercise Library and entering “core” in the search field.
See you there!
Tags: back pain, exercise, lower back, lower back pain, national institute of health, nih, pain management, pain prevention
