Exercise To Reduce Lower Back Soreness

Physical exercise works as a natural anesthesia in diminishing lumbar soreness and those who are involved in regular physical activity from moderate to rigorous intensity have been found to have less pain in the lower back than those with less activity according to this article from Fox News. Cardiovascular exercise is recommended to be the best exercise to reduce lower back soreness, which includes running, cycling, and swimming where the most number of muscles are involved and endorphins are released within the body to create an analgesic effect. It also creates a sense of wellbeing and a numbing effect on the brain to lessen the pain. Resistance to back pain does not increase with Yoga except that a particular exercise can bring relief due to features of a particular position. During this process, neurochemicals are released that decrease anxiety and stress. Mixing up the daily workouts will be a pragmatic approach, as the body will not become accustomed to any particular position.

What’s the Best Exercise to Prevent Lower Back Pain? Chad Madden, Physical Therapist, answers this and demonstrates.

Exercise To Reduce Lower Back Soreness

Exercises to reduce low back pain are not complicated and can be done at home without any special equipment.

It may be that exercise can work as a natural anesthesia to tolerate physical pain. Indeed, in a study published in the monthly journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, physical activity performed by 21 healthy women —from moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for a minimum of 150 min/ week to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 75 minutes per week— was compared with pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings to noxious thermal stimuli. The findings showed that the most active participants reported significantly lower unpleasantness ratings than the less active peers.

Pick Up the Intensity

Experts advise to get moving no matter what the activity is, as long as you do it regularly. But in the same way you can’t expect to have a toned body only by walking, there are some exercises that will make you tougher at decreasing pain sensitivity than others.

“Cardiovascular exercise is the best for this —anything that uses large muscle groups of the body at the same time for at least 20 to 30 minutes nonstop, such as running, swimming or cycling,” says Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter, sports psychology expert and coach, author of You Performing Edge (2012). “By working continuously, the body creates endorphins, which can act as an analgesic and also increase the sense of well-being in the brain. That change in brain chemistry can have a sort of numbing effect as well as a stress-reduction effect, therefore any pain isn’t as pronounced.”

Workouts That Work Out

Unfortunately, a body-mind workout like yoga will not make you more resistant to tolerate physical pain. Dahlkoetter points out that “other forms of exercise like yoga could help with pain associated with that particular exercise or yoga position, but you may not feel the increase in endorphins.”

Indeed, some studies show how yoga and Pilates may help to relieve chronic low back pain; nevertheless, this is different from making you less sensitive to the dentist’s pain work or other type of physical pain. Experts say these types of discipline instead may release different neuro-chemicals that slow you down and thus decrease anxiety and stress.

To strength your pain tolerance, you don’t need to push yourself all the way through your exercise routine every time. “For instance, running is hard to do once a day. What I would recommend is running three to fours days a week, and something else on alternate days like swimming or yoga,” says Dahlkoetter.

By most definitions, all exercise is mind-body exercise. And based on the available research, what is important is to begin an exercise program at a low intensity so any physical issues like chronic pain symptoms don’t increase dramatically, but enough for the body to begin to adapt to the increased workload. “This can be done with a careful progression in really any type of exercise,” says Ellingson.

Good and Bad Pain

The takeaway message here is to workout at higher intensity to make you less pain sensitive. However, you need to also understand the difference between “good” pain and “bad” pain. Bad pain is often localized, centeredaround a joint, and typically involves swelling. Yet, good pain is common when you first begin to increase your physical activity and is a sign that your body is adjusting.

“I think many people who are unfamiliar with exercise and are just beginning to increase their physical activity will also be unfamiliar with “good” muscle pain and may see it as a signal that they should stop,” says Ellingson. But she points out that general muscle pain and soreness is a normal part of adapting to physical activity and could potentially go a long way to help you continue to exercise when you experience soreness. So in this case there are gains from pains.

Read more:

The best approach to make the body less sensitive to back pain is to exercise to reduce lower back soreness. You can try light and moderate exercises, although cardiovascular exercises are recommended. Vigorous exercises are not necessary, so do not sign yourself up for the New York Marathon anytime soon. Instead, try low intensity exercises so that the symptoms do not flare up and the body begins to adapt itself to increases in work pressure. Identifying good and bad pain is important because you can gain from good pain through continuous exercise whenever the pain is felt and the body begins to adjust to it. Bad pain can cause further injury.

Stretching exercises to relieve sore muscles are also great for restoring your range of motion. Learn about stretching exercises to relieve sore muscles with help from a world class professional fitness trainer and nutrition expert Taylor Robbins