Adventure Network : Fitness : Tilton's Tips: Treating Back Pain

by Buck Tilton

Prevention, as always, is the best treatment for back pain. Exercise often and moderately: brisk walking, swimming, jogging, biking, paddling. And shed extra bodyweight. There will be enough of a load on your back without packing fat around your waist.

Here are five daily exercises you can do to buy insurance against back injury:

Start flat on your back and use your hands to pull one knee to your chest. Hold the knee-to-chest position for about 10 seconds. Repeat for the other knee. Do 10 repetitions for each leg.
While still lying down, bend your knees and do abdominal crunches. A crunch raises your head, shoulders and arms off the floor toward your bent knees. Crunches should not raise your lower back off the floor, which would put too much pressure on your back and decrease the benefit to your abs. Hold each crunch for several seconds. How many? Till your abdominal muscles burn. Your goal: to eventually be able to do 3 or 4 sets of 25-30 crunches.
Roll onto your stomach and get into a pre-pushup position, hands on the floor just above your shoulders. Now arch backward, but keep your pelvis on the floor. Hold for about 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
In the same face-down position, extend your arms overhead along the floor. Raise one arm and the opposite about six inches off the floor and hold for about 10 seconds. Alternate sides. Keep repeating until you feel a little burning fatigue in the muscles being used.
Roll over and sit up with your legs straight out in front of you. Stretch your hamstrings by keeping your legs on the floor, knees slightly flexed, and reaching gently for your toes. Do not bounce. Hold maximum stretch for 10-15 seconds and repeat several times.

These exercises can be performed, slowly and gently, after a back injury to help get your muscles working again, if doing them does not increase your pain.

DURING-TRIP PREVENTION

Loosen up before lifting anything heavy, especially in the morning.
Keep your back straight and use your legs, not just back and arms alone, to lift the load.
Get the load well balanced before stepping out.
Option: Have someone help you lift the load and get it balanced.
Take frequent rest breaks with the load off your back.
Reverse the lifting procedure when you drop the load.