If you have lived with chronic back pain all your life, you know how difficult fitness can be. Everything hurts and it’s not the good kind of stretching muscles pain. Whether you suffer with arthritis, scoliosis, slipped disc, sciatica or general low back pain, fitness exercises are torture. Now couple that with spina bifida or some other disabling back condition that prohibits certain exercises and fitness becomes darn near impossible. You often put on weight because it’s hard to find back exercises that don’t hurt. When someone suggests your back pain will get better if only you would exercise, you want to strangle them with a resistance band! Only people who have had chronic back pain understand. But painful or not, however, sufferers still need exercise. Here are back exercises for low back pain, arthritis, scoliosis, slipped disc or sciatica.
Know your back pain. I was born with congenital hip dysplasia, low-back scoliosis, hip and back arthritis and a very slight spina bifida. I’ve also had six pregnancies and several slipped disc issues. By educating myself on my specific back issues, I can adapt my exercise routine. If an exercise you are doing hurts, stop doing it. Fitness workouts should not cause pain, except as stiff muscles loosen up. Find back exercises you can do comfortably.
Don’t just sit there. Sitting for long periods of time takes the greatest toll on the back. Sedentary activities are also linked to pulmonary edema. To prevent blood clots and cramped muscles, stretch every half hour. Do 10 ankle rolls (both feet, both directions), 10 toe point/ flex rotations, 10 shoulder rolls (both directions), 10 Kegel exercises (Sphincter muscle tightening) and 10 back arch/slouch (cat-cow) rotations
Schedule exercise. Everyone’s day looks a little different. If you work at a computer from my home, schedule “get up and move” breaks every 20-30 minutes. Keep an elliptical right in my office. Every hour, spend five-seven minutes on the machine for that break. Mix it up. Set the elliptical machine at 2-6 (rolling, valley, fat burn, ramp and fitness) for morning workouts. In the afternoon, do 7-10 (random, plateau, intervals, mountain). Try to get 40-60 minutes total. Some settings like intervals and random can be painful, so do them for shorter periods of time. or skip them. At times when your back hurts more, like during menstruation, do a modified version.
Multitask entertainment and do back exercises. Set the elliptical in the room with the TV. If you don’t finish fitness workouts, do it while watching a program in the evening. Use television binge behavior to your advantage. It’s easy to binge-eat while watching television, because the mind is preoccupied with the show and not watching what’s going in. Turn that mindless activity mode to a better use, by exercising while watching television. If engrossed, you might exercise for a 30-40 minutes and not realize it. But don’t overdo it. Ride the exercise bike slowly if you have low back pain, arthritis, scoliosis or sciatica. You’ll still get good fitness workouts. Be sure to warm up and cool down with slow leisurely peddling, as if you were riding along the pier on a warm summer day. Set TV show goals. Use television shows to mark exercise time, too. Tell yourself you have to stay on the elliptical until “Antiques Roadshow” is over. Stop if back pain or sciatica begins and cut times in half if you have a slipped disc.
Make partner walks a priority. When children are younger, family walks and bike rides are more important. As you get older, you have to schedule regular couple walks. Don’t use this time to discuss problems. You’ll tense up making scoliosis more painful, causing sciatica to flare up and triggering low back pain. Power walk, moving arms and legs rhythmically, but keep the conversation light. Walking is one of the best back exercises there is.
Do yoga poses. Here’s a Youtube video with yoga poses specifically for low back pain and sciatica. This video does yoga for arthritis. These yoga poses work well for scoliosis. Finally, here’s a yoga for slipped disc. Start with mountain pose, sun salutations and then bend over for gentle back stretches. Do down dog, child’s pose, dead pigeon, warrior one and two, tree pose and all poses that stretch hips and knees. End with shavasana.
