FITNESS
FEATURE
Back pain busters Help your back with these low- to medium-intensity exercises BY JUSTIN GRINNELL
B
ack pain can stop us in our tracks. From sitting at a desk to hours of manual labor, the lumbar spine can start to feel not as resilient, and at times, painful. In the gym and during various sports, having lower-back issues can limit your performance and even put you on the sidelines. While there are many reasons for having lower-back issues, the good news is that it can be improved more often than people think. If you have been told you have degenerative discs, bulging discs, or arthritis, this does not mean you have to stop working out. Avoiding movement or thinking that there is no hope is not the answer. A leading spine health researcher, Dr. Stuart McGill, out of Waterloo, Canada, has spent his career looking into what exercises work best to improve lower-spine health and core function. He also has a great quote that I have personally taken to heart to give me the confidence to improve my own
“A degenerative disc disease diagnosis is equivalent to telling your mother-in-law with wrinkles that she has degenerative face disease.” - Dr. Stuart McGill
back health. “A degenerative disc disease diagnosis is equivalent to telling your mother-in-law with wrinkles that she has degenerative face disease.” While this quote seems funny and even abrasive, McGill’s point is that we all will experience some disc degeneration at some point in our life. Some
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faster than others but it does not mean that we are crumbling apart and cannot stay active or improve. Sometimes proper movement is the best thing for lower-back issues, along with avoiding the movement patterns that cause harm. Beyond that you must focus on strengthening and improving the overall function of the core muscles. It is not all about abdominal work and requires much more than that. These three exercises are the tried and true core builders backed by science to help improve your core and keep low-back issues at bay. These are low- to medium-intensity exercises that almost anyone of any fitness level can perform safely.
BIRD DOG Key muscles worked: spinal erectors, lats and glutes Function: to improve rotary stability
