How to Prevent Lower Back Pain

Sitting is the new smoking. This or similar phrases shall point out the danger of a sedentary lifestyle and sitting too much. ‘Too much’ is the most important part of the sentence. It is not dangerous to sit. It can only cause problems when you sit too much. Unfortunately, our lifestyle forces us to longer periods of static movement over a day. We sit in the car, in school, in the office, at a desk, on the train, and finally, on the couch. Since we also tend to keep the walking distances in between quite short, most of the people are not active enough to fight the negative effects of sitting. Therefore, sitting too much can cause problems in your lower back. However, physical activity and exercising can prevent lower back pain. But how does your lower back work?

Anatomy of the Lower Back

The anatomy of the spine with cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, sacrum, and coccyx.

The foundation of your back is your spine. The spine contains of 24 vertebrae and is categorized into cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, the sacrum, and the coccyx. Discs between the vertebrae absorb impacts and shocks. Two vertebrae form a joint. This very segmented construction makes our torso flexible in all planes. You can bend forwards, backwards (limited!), and sideways. Plus, you can rotate like a screw to both sides, and even combine all the directions. On top, you can do different directions on different levels of your spine. So yes, your spine can be pretty flexible.

As you can imagine, you use a lot of different muscles when moving your spine. The most prominent on your lower back is the erector spinae. The name tells its purpose, to keep your spine upright. If you sit too much, this muscle gets tired and tight very often. Finally, your spine and your pelvis are connected. So, all the muscles moving your pelvis can also impact the position of your spine. It’s getting complex now. Hip flexors, glutes, quadriceps, adductors, and hamstrings impact the pelvis’ position and therefore can impact your spine’s position. Performing the same movements over and over can cause imbalances in strength and/or flexibility/mobility in joints and soft tissues, like muscles or tendons. This can occur due to specific work positions or to monotonous sport-specific practices.

Risk Factors for Lower Back Pain

Your spine is flexible in all three planes and can move in various directions. However, if you only move in certain patterns, your body will adjust towards these movements. Doing too much of the same thing is rarely good. This can be staying in the same work position for several hours, or playing the same sport over and over again. Here is a short list of risk factors for lower back pain:

- Work in sedentary environment

Sitting at a desk for several hours puts a lot of stress on your erector spinae muscles and puts forces against your lumbar spine’s natural lordosis.

Lower back issues due to sitting too much. Especially, in home office at the dinner table.

- No exercise

Fitness training can strengthen your lower back muscles and other body parts impacting your core. A general fitness approach should implement strength and mobility exercises for the upper back and rotator cuff, core, hips, and legs

- High impacts on your spine

Activities compressing your spine, e.g. running, jumping, lifting, should be only performed after warming up. Start easy and increase intensity slowly. A lot of lower back injuries occur when moving mindless.

- Monotonous exercising

Focusing too much on specific movements or body parts can have negative impacts on other body parts. Lower back pain can be caused by tight hamstrings which can increase stress on your lumbar spine.

- Obesity

Overweight and abdominal fat tissue can put additional stress on your spine.

How to Prevent Lower Back Pain

Your focus must be on how you can prevent lower back pain. Try to prevent getting lower back pain in the first place. Don’t treat the symptoms, treat the cause. So, if you are a healthy adult here are several ideas to reduce the risk for lower back pain:

Strength training can reduce risk for back injuries

Strength training is a great way to protect your spine. However, only do strength training when you are not in pain. You can start strength training at any age. It is never too late. It’s important to choose exercises depending on a person’s health status, individual fitness level, and personal needs. Strength training should implement exercises for all body parts. For example, strength imbalances in your thighs can deteriorate leg alignment and further cause negative effects on your spine. Lifting weights can reduce the risk for lower back pain, arthritis, and other diseases. You should start with easy exercises and fewer repetitions. By time increase the number of repetitions and implement harder exercises into your routine. Try to build a healthy routine with strength training twice a week.

Mobility and Flexibility can improve your back health

Mobility and flexibility exercises can reduce the risk of lower back pain. A healthy spine is flexible and can move in all directions. Without moving your spine might become less and less flexible. Spine mobility can decrease with age. But it is never too late to start. Depending on your personal situation you can start with easy mobility exercises. Low-intensity cardio, like walking or cycling, can also improve your mobility. Keeping all parts of your body flexible is the best prevention for your spine. For example, hip mobility or tight muscles can impact your lower back health.

An active lifestyle benefits your health and fitness

An active lifestyle improves your back health. Try to be as active as possible. Physical activity improves your strength and flexibility. Monotonous movement patterns can cause lower back pain. An easy start is to change your position every 20 minutes. Alternate between different sitting and standing positions. You can implement a 15-minutes-walk every day at the same time, or do 3 squats after sending an email.

Know How to Lift

Know how to lift and prevent back injuries by engaging your core and squatting.

Knowing how to lift correct can reduce the risk of lower back injuries. Once you catch yourself thinking about how you will lift this box up, you are already building the habit of moving correct. Soon, you will not have to think about it anymore and you will just do it - lifting in the correct way. Engage your core before you lift something. By activating your abs and lower back muscles your core forms a unit and keeps your spine in position. Squat and engage your thighs if you lift something from the ground.

Improve your posture

Strength and mobility exercises help improving your posture. Body awareness exercises and small movement exercises can improve ‘the feeling for your body’ even more. Cardio training and strength exercises can benefit core stability and reduce abdominal fat which puts additional stress on your spine.

Leg alignment impacts the lower back

An improper leg alignment can impact the position of your pelvis and spine. It starts at the very bottom with proper foot strength and the arch of your foot. A flat foot can be the reason for a valgus in your ankle and/or your knee. The problem can also go from top to bottom. Weak hip abductors can cause a valgus in the knee. An significant strength difference between knee flexors and extensors, hip flexors and extensors, or hip abductors and adductors, can cause a pelvis tilt in any directions.

4 Easy Strength Exercises for Your Lower Back

Here are four easy exercises to strengthen your lower back and your core. Only perform exercises when you are healthy and you are not in pain.

Plank for your Core

The Plank is a great 'whole-body-exercise', but especially for your core.

The plank is a great exercise to strengthen your core, back, and legs. Try to keep your body in a straight line. Squeeze your abs, thighs, and glutes to prevent your pelvis from sagging down. You can also position your knees on the ground to make it a little bit easier. You should not feel a pain in your lower back. Keep breathing during the exercise, do not hold your breath. Start to hold the plank position twice for 15+ seconds.

Superman for your Lower Back

The superman exercise is perfect to strengthen your lower back muscles.

This exercise strengthens the erector spinae in your lower back and the muscles around your rotator cuffs. Start in prone position and lift your chest off the ground. Then move slowly back down. The duration of the up-phase should equal the duration of going down. There is no momentum involved, such as throwing your shoulders back. You can make it easier by keeping your arms on the ground. If you want to make it harder extend your arms above your head and point your thumbs up. Start with 2 sets to 5-15 reps.

Bridging for your Glutes

Bridging and hip extension is an essential functional movement in everyday life.

Bridging is an essential movement in our daily activities. Every morning, when getting out of bed you do a variation of bridging. Bridging strengthens your glutes. A main function of your glutes is extending the hip and stabilizing the pelvis. Sitting too much, a position with flexed hips, can have negative effects on glutes strength. For bridging, start in supine position and your legs standing. Squeeze your glutes and lift your pelvis. Avoid over-arching your lower back by engaging your abs. To make it harder, only place one foot on the ground. Try to keep your pelvis leveled. Start with 2 sets to 5-15 reps.

Hip Abduction for your Pelvis

A second function of your glutes is abducting your leg (=moving the leg sideways from your body’s center). Strong glutes stabilize your pelvis and have a direct impact on your lower back. Start on your side. Flex your bottom leg’s hip and knee to have more stability. Then, lift your top leg. Make sure your leg only goes up and maybe a little backwards. Meanwhile, your pelvis remains in the same position and does not tilt forwards or backwards. In this way, also your lower back remains stability. Start with 2 sets to 5-15 reps per leg.