For those of you that have ever experienced low back pain you know how debilitating it can be.  But there’s a surprisingly simple remedy that can help relieve the pain for many people.

I recently read a an article titled, “Use Weights, Not Aerobics, To Ease Back Pain, Study Suggests”. The article was pretty broad and really didn’t get into the specifics of the study, but the gist of the article was that subjects that took part in a program with resistance training (dumbbells, barbells, etc…) showed more improvement in function and ease of pain compared to subjects that only did aerobic exercises like jogging, walking, etc.

The article also stated that performing full body exercises helped strengthen the entire body and helped subjects perform daily activities better and lessened their fatigue throughout the day.  Perhaps the title of the article should of stated “full body exercise” and not just “use weights”.

Although this information in this article was no surprise to me, it’s always good to read an article that backs up what you do!  It’s true that in many cases, people can relieve their back pain and actually become pain-free by strength training (the right strength training of course).  I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it myself…

My Story

Many years ago I suffered from low back pain myself - in the form of “spasms”. One of the worst episodes I experienced happened while getting out of a cab of all things. My lower back clenched so tight that I literally fell to the ground.  My friend and the cab driver had to carry me to the hotel room. The worst part was that we were on vacation, and I ended up spending 5 days flat on my back in the hotel room and on top of all that, my friend had to help me go to the bathroom! Clearly not one of my “good” memorable moments.

Thankfully my low back pain came in episodes, although quite severe at times, it was never a constant problem. But when my low back “locked up”  it was bad enough to put me out of commission for a few days. It wasn’t out of the norm for my low back to spasm up 3 to 4 times a year. The problem was that these episodes would happen when I least expected it - like bending over to pick something up or doing something completely insignificant.

After many visits to the Chiropractors, Physical Therapists and Orthopods, the consensus was that I had a musculoskeletal problem mostly caused by muscular imbalance combined with some lower back degeneration. Nothing too serious, but considering many people that suffer from low back pain may or may not have anything real definitive going on in their back, the diagnosis didn’t make me feel any better.

I attributed my weakness partly to years of swimming. Now swimming is great for developing endurance, but it didn’t do a whole heck of a lot for my postural muscles, since I spent majority of my time moving horizontally rather than upright like the rest of the human race. So when I finally decided to join the rest of the “upright” society, my body didn’t seem to adapt as quickly and effectively as I thought. Hence my massive muscular imbalance. At least that’s my theory… there’s been no studies done on competitive swimmers suffering from bouts of low back pain after they retire, at least that I know of.

I had gone through many rehab protocols, from old school crunches to strengthen my “abs” (just kidding - you knew I had go for that one!),  to doing everything including the Macarena on the balance board to stimulate my “core”. Crunches aside, some of the rehab protocols did have benefits, but for me it was after I started reading studies from Dr. Stuart McGill, that really opened my eyes about the how low back really works. (You can google his name Dr. Stuart McGill to get more info).

By studying Dr. McGill, I was finally able to visualize my low back and truly see how all the surrounding muscles that attach to the spine (the pelvic girdle and the thoracic cage) all work as a unit to stabilize the low back. That was when I first really learned that the body functions as a whole unit instead of in parts. And that by strengthening my low back, it really meant strengthening my entire body.

I then started applying functional full body training into my workouts. I combined that with a bunch of hip mobilization exercises and Voila! A brand new back…Well it wasn’t quite like the movies where you go from zero to hero in 10 minutes with some inspirational “Rocky-esque” music blaring in the background. It was definitely a much longer process, but it’s been eons since the last time I had any lower back issues. And the other great benefit was that I got stronger, leaner and much fitter overall as a result.

If you have low back issues (or even if you don’t), be sure to incorporate full body functional exercises into your workouts to strengthen you entire body and avoid muscular imbalances that can end up causing you unnecessary pain and discomfort.
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Disclaimer:  If you have serious back issues or lingering pain, you should always see a doctor first to make sure that strength training is right for you.