Exercise mistakes that make your back worse

Most back exercises are great for the back and it doesn’t seem to matter much what exercises you do as long as you stay active. But some exercises can be harmful and actually damage your back. So whether you like the gym, Pilates, yoga or a sport it is important to know the good and the bad. Matthew was recently interviewed about just this topic by Stu Girling from Love Yoga Anatomy. Stu trains yoga teachers and practitioners on safe ways to do yoga.

One of the exercises that does more harm than good is forward bending despite the fact that lots of people do it to stretch their back. As we bend forward huge pressure builds on the lower discs. As you bend from the waist, if the lumbar spine is held in neutral, with its natural forward curve, the pressure on the disc is reduced. If you round your lower back as you bend forwards then the discs are vulnerable. The jelly inside the disc gets forced backwards and can cause cracking in the outer disc wall. If this carries on it can cause a disc bulge or a “slipped disc”.

 

Forward-bending
Lumbar-loads

 

If you bend, as in a yoga forward fold, over and over again then it can cause injury. It is like repeatedly bending a credit card, a white line appears and ultimately it breaks.

Many people with back pain feel that their back is too stiff and want to stretch it. A better goal for exercises is the right mix of flexibility and stability. If your back is too stiff and this causing pain then the solution is to unlock the spinal joints with chiropractic manipulation or mobilisation. If, however, your problem is too much flexibility then we work to stabilise your spine.