Counteract your daily movements with stretching
We all have certain movement and movement patterns that we repeat day in and day out. Maybe it is sitting with your head forward staring at a computer screen or maybe it is crossing one leg over the other for extended periods of time. These patterns, that we all have, cause certain muscles to get short and tight and others to become overly stretched and probably pretty weak. Then when we go the gym we often exacerbate the problem by favoring the stronger side. This can lead to severe muscle imbalances and back pain. Try “unwinding” your tight muscles by doing stretches that incorporate movements that are the opposite of your daily movements especially before going to the gym.
Move around every hour
When we sit for hours at a time our back can get tight. This is especially true because sitting causes our glutes to become weaker and our hip flexors to become tighter. This combination is notorious for causing back pain. You will be surprised at how helpful just getting up and walking around for one minute at a time can be when it comes to long term back health.
Pay attention to aches and pains before they scream at you
When your body talks you need to listen! All too often we ignore minor aches and pains and then they become major aches and pain. No pain no gain may mean doing one more rep in good form, but it shouldn’t mean ignoring pain in your back as you perform the exercise. The first step in paying attention to pain is stretching and seeing which muscles are tight. Sometimes the tight muscles may be in a place other than where you feel the pain. And you may find that when you stretch those tight muscles that you didn’t even know were tight that your pain goes away.
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