Are You Making Exercise Mistakes that Cause Back Pain?
Exercising is almost always a good habit to have since it keeps your body and mind healthy and your muscles strong. However, not exercising properly can lead to injury and prevent you from being able to even do lower back stretches if it’s severe enough. Before you have to visit a spine and orthopedic center to discuss your back pain, take a close look at your exercise routine to ensure you’re using proper techniques. Here are some mistakes you could be making that may potentially lead to back pain.
Not Stretching Properly Before Exercising
Doing lower back stretches is important to do before virtually any exercise. When you stretch out your back muscles, you give them a little more flexibility to be able to handle the exercise you’re about to accomplish. These lower back stretches don’t have to be intense or lengthy. A 10-minute session before every workout will go a long way in preventing back pain. Be sure to also focus on stretching other areas of your body depending on the type of workout you’re doing.
Beginning With High Intensity
Whether your workout consists primarily of lifting weights or cardio, don’t fall into the temptation of starting with high intensity. Even if you feel your best at the beginning of the workout and want to see how intense you can go, you’ll increase your chances of getting injured as a result. Instead, start slowly and make the first few minutes of your exercise session an extension of your lower back stretches. Then gradually increase the intensity as you go and you’ll reduce the risk of injuring yourself significantly.
Not Using Correct Form
Proper spine care means using correct form, especially when lifting weights. If you’ve never lifted weights before, consider working with a trainer to at least learn the proper form and prevent a significant injury. If you don’t use a trainer or can’t afford one, then start by using “selectorized machines” for weight training. Knowing how to run or do other cardio exercises properly is important as well since the supporting muscles in your back are impacted with every step you take.
Exercising Infrequently
Not exercising regularly is one of the main sources of back pain. Having a weak core can lead to back discomfort since the core muscles stabilize the spine. A mistake people make is not exercising for weeks or months at a time and then exercising with high intensity as if they’ve been on a strict training regimen. It’s even more important to incorporate lower back stretches in these situations and get back into a routine over several days or weeks.
DBC Active Spine Care® is more than just an average spine and orthopedic center program. We focus on the source of the issue when patients have back pain to not only eliminate the pain, but also prevent it from coming back. Our spine adaptive functional restoration program is designed to help patients enjoy good long-term spine health. If you are experiencing any level of back pain, contact us to see how our program can help you.