I'm sure that at some point in your life you have had lower back pain. If you haven’t, then unfortunately the data is against you; it's coming.
Lower back pain can be a serious problem and can be caused by many things. I remember when I was just getting into lifting injuring my lower back pretty badly. I was deadlifting and disregarded all form, I just wanted to slam on as many plates as possible and stand up tall with it. Well, I eventually stood up tall, but at the cost of me popping a disc because my back was so rounded. My hamstrings and glutes did no work, and my lower back paid for it. I couldn’t train properly for around 8 weeks. If you are anything like me, you love training. An injury like that can really take its toll on you mentally as well as physically.
So aside from poor form, what else can cause lower back pain?
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Poor posture ( usually over a long period of time)
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Stress
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Tight hamstrings
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A slipped disc – whatever the cause
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Sciatica
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Certain medical conditions
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An infection
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Broken bones in the spine
If you do have some kind of lower back pain then, what can you do to alleviate some pain and tenderness associated with it?
It's going to depend on the cause of the pain to some degree, but here are some of the most common and effective ways of treating lower back pain.
Anti-inflammatory pills – possibly the most obvious answer and the one most people go for first, but it's for good reason. Those little beauties work! Most lower back pain is caused by your muscles, tendons or ligaments being inflamed and pushing on nerves. Simply taking an anti-inflammatory can reduce the inflammation and relieve your symptoms, at least for a little while.
Stretch your hamstrings – most of us spend our days sat down at our desks. This puts our hamstrings in a shortened range of motion for most of the day. Your lower back pain could simply be coming from having tight hamstrings that are pulling on your lower back. At work, make sure to stand up and go for a walk around at least every hour. As well as this, make sure you are stretching them for at least 15 minutes a day. If you don’t currently do this, you will notice a massive difference when you start to.
Reach for the peas – icing your back actually allows less blood to flow to the area and can reduce the amount of inflammation. Remember, inflamed muscles, tendons and ligaments to press on nerves, causing pain.
Stretch the lower back – a quick and simple relief method. There are lots of lower back stretches. I recommend doing a quick search and finding the ones that you feel relieved you most, then setting up a little 15-minute stretching workout that contains them all. The relief you can have is quite satisfying. Remember, one session won’t eliminate the pain altogether, but if you stick at it, you can considerably improve your symptoms over a few weeks.
Get stronger, everywhere – exercising can be hard when you have lower back pain, I know. However, it can also be a handy way of fixing it. The body works as one and weaker muscles that surround the lower back can cause it pain if they aren’t strong enough. Two of the most common are the hamstrings and glutes.
Lose weight – I hate to say it, but you may be overweight. You use your lower back muscles an incredible amount of times each day. If you are overweight and don’t do any exercises to strengthen them, that’s a lot of strain being placed on them.
Lower back pain can be a real problem, but it doesn’t have to be. There are things you can do to prevent the onset of it and, as you have just read above, quite a bit to combat it should you ever have to encounter it.
