Lower back pain is the normal issue that most people face in the gym or in normal life. But if you do the gym, there are some exercises to avoid with lower back pain, if you are suffering from lower back pain.
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Content
● Exercises to avoid, and replace with other exercises
● Important nutrition to strengthen your lower backbones.
● Reasons behind lower back pain.
● How to heal lower back pain?
Exercises to avoid with lower back pain
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Stiff leg deadlift
Exercise where you perform deadlift without any bend in your knees, in this exercise your knees and legs are straight throughout the movement.
When you perform a stiff leg deadlift the lower back gets round which leads to compression of the L1-L5 disc.
The hamstring and glutes being the primary muscles that are targeted, still, the tension is more on the L1-L5 disc and S1 region of your back.
If you are struggling with back issues, avoid stiff leg exercise at all costs. Not only it increases the pain but also lead to disc injury.
If you are doing the correct form still your you can’t do this movement because its mechanical form and your back will compress, makes the space between discs larger. Which is worst with lower back pain.
Instead do Romanian deadlift with low weight
Well, if you have minor or normal lower back pain you can remove stiff leg deadlift with Romanian deadlift. If you have major lower back pain, avoid any deadlift.
Doing this movement you keep the lower back out of motion if you do it with correct form.
If you don’t get the correct form, and there is bend in you back, then you have to remove the deadlift from your routine.
To get the right position or form hold the bar wide, forming a straight line with your shoulders, and make sure your back is straight with a face straight pointing to the mirror.
Make sure the bar is close to your body, just up in the middle of your feet.
Now pull the weight by bending your knees.
Deep squats
The best exercise for building big traps and glutes.
This is the most effective exercise when you have no lower back issues. Because it is the same as a stiff leg deadlift. In this exercise when you go down all the way, your lower back gets rounded, which leads to disc compression.
It puts more tension on the “S” region i.e lower region in your back. Not only that, it sometimes causes more damage to the “L5” disc region.
Instead do Half squats
Instead do similar exercise with some protection to your lower i.e half squats also known as chair squats.
In this movement, you exclude your lower back and put most of the pressure on quads and lower hip region.
You can always use a chair to make the movement easier. This means you have to touch the chair with your hips and then move up.
Perform this exercise with your back straight. There should be no bend in your upper or lower back.
Leg press
The leg press is another leg exercise that involves your lower back.
Leg press movement compresses the L5, L4, L3, and S1 area of your back. Usually, when your knee comes near to your chest during leg press your feet move the hip and lower back region with it.
Heavy weights in leg press with full range can lead to slip disc, bulging. If you have lower back pain.
So, if have lower back pain, avoid leg press with full range motion(where your knees almost touch your chest).
Instead, do mid-range leg press
You can remove full range motion with mid-range motion.
In this, you have to bend your knees less, usually in your mid-range, not more than that.
And make sure the weight is less.
Side twist
This is the best exercise for your core, mainly obliques. But can be dangerous in lower back pain.
In this movement, your spine rotates regularly, mainly put pressure on L5 and S1 region.
If you struggling with slip disc, bulging, or any other lower back injury, then you should avoid this at any cost because when you have slip disk or bulging there is a liquid that releases and when you perform any exercise that targets L1 to S region it leads to heavy pain in your lower back.
Whether you do it on an incline bench or on the floor, avoid this if you suffering from any lower back issue.
Instead do side planks
What is the best way to replace side twist other than side plank, which trains your obliques.
Simply, do side planks, target both sides with one at a time.
Stretches
Stretches are important to open up your body before a workout. But there are some stretches that we usually do, but shouldn’t if we have lower back pain.
Standing hamstring stretch
This is a dangerous pose for your lower back. It is the same as a stiff leg where you touch your hand on toes.
In this exercise, L1 to S region is rotating and compressing the L5 area, lower disc area.
Never do this exercise, even with minor pain or injury because it totally rotates the lower back and hip area.
Instead, do standing single leg stretch
Best replacement with limited benefits of healing lower back pain.
Grab a chair or bench, and put your one leg on it, while maintaining the straight back posture. Avoid touching the toes, put your hands on the sides of your hips.
Do the same movement with the other leg.
Crunches
Doing crunches is the main exercise usually people do train their abs or core.
The main cause of this exercise is that when you lift the body up most of the people use the force of their hips, which puts a lot of pressure on your spine.
This exercise can become very dangerous if you do it often with a full range of motion.
It does train abs but also involves risk for your lower back because when you pull yourself up with your hand supporting your neck, it creates the bend in your spine and can lead to injury or more pain.
Instead do limited crunches
This exercise may be a replacement, yet it is proved more effective if you do it right.
In this exercise, you exclude the risk of any injury or lower back pain.
To do it correctly bring yourself up to the position where your shoulder blades are up, and then go down.
Also, make sure your neck is not getting any support from your hands.
Double leg raises
This exercise is effective in creating a strong lower core or abs. But it can be proved dangerous for the lower back if you do it incorrectly or if you are suffering from lower back pain.
This is a simple exercise where you lay down on the floor, and then lift both legs up, and then bring the knees close to your chest.
When you lift both the legs up it put a lot of pressure on your spine and again when you push your knees close to your chest, the lower region mainly S1 and L5 area is rotated.
Instead, do one leg raises
Replace this exercise with one leg raise. To perform this exercise
Lift only one leg up and then bring the knee close to the chest. Then push it back so that your leg is stretched and bring the leg down. Do the same movement for the other leg.
Also read: Lower Back Exercises to do At Home
Nutrition important to heal back pain
Without proper nutrition, it is nearly impossible to heal lower back pain.
Now there are a lot of injections and surgeries, which people find an appropriate solution. But the truth is far from it, surgeries usually are a temporary precaution for your lower back. They inject doses in your spine which heels your back pain for a year or 2, but after that, you will find yourself in the same condition or pain.
There are so many supplements but we discuss some important supplements that are important and healer for your lower back pain.
Vitamin k
Vitamin k is very important to include in your diet if you have back pain.
Vitamin k bone calcium, strengthen your bone and joint, even your vertebra disc.
If you don’t include vitamin k in your diet, it becomes impossible to strengthen your bones because calcium is not able to bine.
Take vitamin k rich such as raw green leaf vegetables spinach etc.
Vitamin D
Everyone knows how important is vitamin D for our body. But still, 60 to 70% of people in the world have vitamin D deficiency.
The best sources for vitamin D are morning sunlight, egg yolks (yellow part of the egg), fish (very rich in vitamin D), and milk is also a great source of vitamin D.
When to start talking back pain seriously
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Knowing when to take lower back seriously is very important, it can change your life if the risk or injury is deep. There are two ways to determine the pain
1. First is acute pain which usually is temporary pain, limited to 4 days to 30 days. This may a result of the wrong form or too much pressure on one leg.
2. Second is permanent or deep pain. If you are struggling with lower back pain for more than months than its critical and may be a cause of slip disc or injury.
In this condition, the best for you is to quit the gym totally and forget about weights, dumbbells. Even cardio is a risk in this condition.
Factors responsible for lower back pain
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The main reason for lower back pain and injuries is not lifting heavy in squats or deadlift. It is found that improper form is the main reason behind slip disk and lower back pain.
The other main reason behind back pain is weak glutes or hips. Pointing weak lower back for pain is just another bro-science. If you have weak glutes train them twice a week.
A normal chair with an arc is also responsible for lower back pain. Because when you sit on a normal chair, due to arc your lower back gets rounded which leads to compression of the disc or vertebrae.
Using cushioned or soft matrices is also a popular reason behind lower back pain. So, replace your matrices with a hard solid matrix if you are dealing with lower back issues.
Best ways to heal back pain
Physiotherapy
Getting a physiotherapy treatment is another preferable and best way to treat the lower back pain issue. If you are not dealing with lower back pain, still physiotherapy is best for your body.
Rest
Rest is very important to recover your body with any pain or injury. If you have major lower back pain and slip disc issues, leave everything and get proper rest.
Also, avoid bending down to pick anything from the floor in lower back pain.
Do yoga
Yoga is very useful and the best way to heal the lower back pain.
Vajrayana is one best yoga pose, helpful in healing lower back pain and also best for digestion. The plus point about this asana is that you can do it after eating food.
Avoid chair with curve
Use a flat chair and put a pillow on the chair to support the lower back when you lay forward. Avoid normal chairs with cures.
