7 Tips For Protecting Your Lower Back

As we get older, we begin to ache. It’s a sad and worrisome fact of life: it means you’re aging, and that’s not always a fun realisation! Sure, there are aches and pains that occur at any age, but the stiffness in the joints, the inability to bend well when you are trying to get in some exercise or work done? That’s often a sign of aging. No matter where you are in life, young or old, mobile or not, the one place you need to protect is your lower back.

Your spine is literally keeping you upright at this moment in time, and the one thing that you can always rely on for your back is its strength. Think of the level of power that goes into your spine holding up your ribcage, balancing your head, your shoulders, your pelvis – it’s all interconnected and the better you treat it, the better you will feel long-term. The goal is to stabilize your back so that you can push back long conversations with a spine surgeon and stay as healthy as possible. Below, we’ve put together seven ways that you can protect your lower back and start feeling flexible and healthy!

1. Working On Strength

To be able to stabilise your lower back, you need to work on your core every day. The supportive muscles throughout the trunk of the body all work to support the spine, but they only work if you are keeping them strong. Cardio can work, such as walking briskly, but the best thing to do is look at swimming. The buoyancy of the water will support the legs while you are working your core and helping your spine. Most patients with chronic back pain turn to swimming to help, as they are able to feel better supported that way and can find relief in the temperature of the water on their back, too. Your physio can help you out with individual exercises for your precise problem, too, and they can recommend movements that you can make to stretch your spine safely.

2. Look At Your Chair Situation

Are you working from home right now? Most people working from home do not have the right office equipment to be able to support themselves ergonomically. The best thing for you to do is to purchase the right ergonomic chair to support your spine as you sit for longer periods. With the right ergonomics with your chair in the house, you can have some additional support. Look at the furniture you have in your office and buy the same thing for your house.

3. Lift Safely

If you love the gym and you love lifting, you are going to need to learn to support your lower spine when you do it. Lifting is great for fitness but it’s a common cause of lower back pain. Things like lifting a child or unloading the groceries from the car can all lead to issues with your lower back. Most people bend over before they lift anything and this is putting strain on the muscles as they stand back up again. It’s important that you bed at the knees and not the lower back. You can slip a disc if you aren’t lifting the right way and you can – in the worst case scenario – pull the cauda equina. When this happens, you are at risk of needing serious surgery very quickly to fix the issue before permanent disablement. When you lift smaller objects, near weight on one leg as you bend to grab the object, and use the weight of the other leg to counterbalance.

4. Relieve Your Stress

Stress is a big indicator of something that will lead to eventual degeneration of the spine and pain building up over time. You have to think about how you move when you open doors, use the vacuum cleaner or even shovel snow. When you’re opening doors, you can twist your body in a way that alleviates the stress on the spine. When you use a vacuum cleaner, you can balance your weight against the cleaner as you push it along. By balancing your arms on your legs as you shovel snow, you can ensure that you feel supported. There’s no long-term stooping over and you can feel the support and relief in your back.

5. Rest!

One of the top ways to protect your back is to rest it! You need to remember to give it a break and sit, or lie down when you’ve spent time bending over or you have felt a twinge when you lift the wrong way. There are changes that take place in the discs when you bend forward for too long and the joints become stiffer. With adequate rest, you can ensure that the muscles and discs are protected. When you’re resting, you give the muscles a break and this will allow you to build up your strength once more. 

6. Wake & Straighten Up

When you wake up from a long sleep, your back is usually stiff. We all feel it, but it doesn’t mean that it’s easy to feel it! You need to remember that when you are fully hydrated and you stretch properly on waking, you can protect your discs. Maintaining a straight enough back for a couple of hours after waking will allow your diss to shit into their normal pressure. When you first wake up your discs are hydrated, which means that when you bend or lift too fast, they’re at risk of herniating. So, when you wake up, straighten your spine and feel the stretch.

7. Stretch Those Hammies!

Your hamstrings are just as important for supporting your lower back as any body part. Tight hamstrings cause lower back pain, though many people aren’t aware of this! Certain stretches will help your lower back to relieve the pressure across your lower back and relieve pain in the legs, too. Before you start engaging in any hammy activity, you should talk to your doctor or physio!