Is Improving Mobility Important for Alleviating Back Pain?
Oct 27, 2020 mindpumpMost people get back pain from overcompensating, by using muscles, and areas of the body that aren’t meant to take on that extra load (i.e. when you lift something off the ground and tweak your lower back). It’s also a sign that your body is telling you something is not right. Mobility is being able to take your body through a full range of motion without pain. Which means, if you have back pain, it is most likely from chronic stress of overusing certain muscles of the low back or hip flexors because muscles like the glutes and core, aren’t being properly fired.
We need to figure out the optimal movement patterns so that our body tracks properly in a way, so you won’t fall back into that same injury. A lot of people think if they just stretch a lot that’ll fix the problem. That’s really only the first step. If you can’t handle resistance throughout that full range, you are just putting yourself at a greater risk for injury.
Stretching and foam rolling are great, however they are only telling your central nervous system to quiet that pain signal in the aggravated area. It isn’t actually FIXING the problem. In order to fix it, you need to take that window where the pain signal is reduced, and incorporate mobility drills that will strengthen the right muscles. This will hit the root of the problem, teaching the muscle to function and activate when it is supposed to.
Here are some exercises to help alleviate that back pain:
Bird Dog – I like the bird dog because its low impact and teaches you how to properly keep a strong core through a dynamic range of motion
Hip Flexor Deactivator – I like this exercise for teaching people to engage their core like they’ve never done before. A lot of times we do ab exercises thinking we are engaging the core when in reality we’re just over activating the hip flexors. This should help us learn to keep our focus on a tight squeeze in just the abs. Over the long term, this should help us properly engage our core during bigger lifts.
Floor Bridge – This exercises is good for activating the hamstrings, glutes, and core. Most people tend to hyperextend their low back, for the sake of getting more range of motion. The way I teach you here will prevent that.
If we focus on doing mobility drills 5-10 minutes each day, or every other day, you will strengthen the imbalances in your muscular system, and get rid of that nagging lower back pain. Remember, you spend MOST of your day sitting. When you are at work, watching TV, eating in the car, you name it. You are hunched over, and causing all sorts of muscles to atrophy and not work optimally. Our bodies weren’t made to spend so much time in one position! We need balance! Spend more time focusing on the muscles that get neglected, and I promise you, if you focus on keeping your core strong, and glutes firing, your back pain will disappear.
