Cure back pain and improve posture
The number of people seeing their doctor for back pain has increased in the last 10 years. It is estimated that by the age of 60, almost 3 out of 4 people have back pain, with men suffering the most.
The number one cause of back pain
Most people who suffer from back pain have weak core muscles and poor body alignment. This can mainly be attributed to lack of exercise and sitting too much. Most people in this day and age have desk jobs. A typical day for most people goes something like this:
o Sitting on the way to work (car, bus, train)
o Sitting all day at work
o Sitting on the way home from work
o Sit and watch TV after work
Sitting in chairs with back supports for long periods of time causes your own back support (core muscles) to shut down and become weak. Additionally, most sitting scenarios promote poor posture by tightening and shortening some muscles while simultaneously weakening and lengthening others.
Poor posture and weak core muscles result in increased activation of certain back muscles in an attempt to stabilize the spine. This is a compensatory mechanism that overloads the back muscles and ultimately causes pain.
How to cure your back pain
To relieve back pain it is necessary to strengthen the core muscles. Your core muscles are made up of the transverse abdominals, obliques (internal and external), pelvic floor, lower back, and diaphragm. In a balanced body, these core muscles are activated when you perform any type of movement. The problem is that most people’s core muscles are so weak that the brain struggles to activate them during these movements. To address this, you need to perform specific core strengthening exercises on a regular basis until they are strong enough.
How to improve posture
You can simply try to remember to stand or sit up straight to improve your posture. However, this can be challenging when certain muscles are tight and others are loose, keeping you in poor posture. So to get out of this, you need to stretch your tight muscles and strengthen your weak muscles. When this has been successfully accomplished, the body will come back into alignment.
potential problems
Although I said you need to strengthen your core muscles, if the exercises are performed with poor technique and are at the wrong level of difficulty, it can cause more harm than good. It’s also important to know which muscles to stretch and which ones to tighten to improve posture. If this is done incorrectly, not only will it not improve your posture, it may actually cause you more pain.
How to avoid the dangers
The best way to avoid these potential problems is to have a postural and core evaluation performed by a specialist. After such an evaluation, they should prescribe specific exercises that are at the right level to strengthen your core and specific stretches and strengthening exercises to improve your posture.