Can Back Pain be Prevented?

By Massage Therapist, Alanna Kinsman

If you have ever suffered from back pain, you know how much of a toll it can take on your every day life. Even the simplest tasks can be made twice as difficult when dealing with a sore back. But luckily, there are precautions you can take that help prevent back pain. These include avoiding certain movements that tweak or strain the back, maintaining correct posture, using proper lifting strategies, understanding repetitive strain injuries, using ergonomic furniture at home and work. Below are some helpful tips and precautions to help you prevent back pain.

Preventative maintenance strategies

• Always stretch before exercise or strenuous physical activity

• Avoid slouching

• Wear comfortable footwear

• Keep objects close to the body when lifting

• Do not twist when lifting

The first most important aspect of home care is recognizing techniques that are helping your body and avoiding exercises that can make it worse.

Understanding appropriate Exercises

Back exercises that treat back pain in the lower spine focus on strengthening the flexor, extensor and oblique muscle groups. This helps reinforce support of the spine and in turn reduce low back pain.

Example exercises for acute low back pain:

Planks and stabilization exercises that focus on balance are important preventative exercises to decrease the occurrence of low back pain. These exercises help engage the muscles attaching around the affected vertebral segments in the lower back as well as the core to help keep the pelvis in a neutral position strengthening the supporting muscle groups appropriately.

It is important to listen to your body when performing a new or specific training exercise. If a position is painful, or you catch yourself holding your breath while holding a pose it is a sign you are pushing yourself too hard and it is important to reexamine your exercise and make any modifications that are needed. Taking breaks and giving your body enough resting time is an integral part of recovery and injury prevention. Paying more attention to your body and its warning signals can allow you to make better progress and enjoy fewer set backs.

Lifting Strategies

Keeping the chest forward and bending through the hips and knees is most effective for avoiding back injury when lifting. When we use our entire body for a movement the lower limbs produce a powerful lifting force allowing us to not place too much force on our upper back and neck. As we keep our back muscles in an upright ergonomic position we are automatically strengthening our postural muscles.

When lifting we should always be mindful of having our shoulders in line with our hips. When changing directions move the hips first and the shoulders should move in unison. This will help you avoid the torsion force on the joints of the lower back and pelvis. Keep objects close to our bodies when lifting.

When suffering from low back pain avoiding exercises such as vacuuming, excessive stretching or twisting motions on the spine and slouching in chairs we can help strengthen our lower backs and get back to our daily routines.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via our contact form or by phone at (902) 406-7200.