Sebastian Brosche · 14 min · 1,283 words
Previously titled: Video 1 - Flexion Related Lower Back Pain Rehab Program
Hi everyone, welcome to our back pain program. So today we're going to talk about back pain that comes on with flexion, so with forward bending. This is the kind of pain that gets worse when you go to put your socks on. It may be worse when you're sitting compared to when you're standing and particularly for jujitsu people, it tends to be aggravated by playing guard.
So this kind of back pain, it can be anything from a relatively minor strain through to more serious problems including some disc problems. Do bear in mind though if you're getting any other symptoms with your back pain, so you're getting a lot of pain down into your lower leg, you're getting numbness, tingling, pins and needles or weakness in the legs or any other symptoms at all, do go and see somebody about that first and use this in conjunction with any other advice that you're given by your doctor or your healthcare practitioner. Okay, so we're going to start with some very basic exercises that would be appropriate for quite an acute case of lower back pain and as the series progresses we're going to go through to some more advanced exercises. Do progress at your own pace, don't be afraid to go back and do the same day several times if you need to.
And advance when you feel ready to do so. Okay, so we're going to start by just doing a little bit of gentle forward and backwards rocking. So I want you to go as far as you can comfortably, you can go up to the edge of mild discomfort but I don't want you to go past that and into pain. People usually find that as you do this you'll start to get a little bit more range, you'll be able to go a bit further but don't force that.
So just putting those, that movement through the joints will help to ease the symptoms. And little and often is the name of the game with this, so you want to do a little of this but regularly. So try and do it a few times through the day if you can. Okay, and then we're going to stop in the middle.
What I'm going to do now is I'm going to try and keep my back as still as I can I'm just going to take one leg out. So if I can I'm going to lift it all the way to straight while trying to keep my back where it is. But if that's painful then I can just take it a short distance here. So with some of my patients who've got very acute back pain I'll just end up doing a very small movement.
Okay, so we're going to alternate legs. So we're going to go... While I'm doing that I'm using these abdominal muscles as well as my back muscles to keep my spine in that neutral position. Okay, and then from there I'm just going to go back to that forwards and backwards rocking again.
And we're just going to repeat. If you start to get any increase in symptoms when you're doing this just back off, do a bit less. Do listen to your own body. That's really important.
A little bit of mild discomfort is fine. That's not something to worry about. We don't want more than that. And then from there you're going to lie flat and using your hands under your shoulders to support you.
You're just going to push yourself up again just up to the point where you start to feel it starts to become uncomfortable. If you can't go very far that's fine. We're just going to repeatedly take it as far as you can comfortably. Some people with flexion related back pain find this move actually quite relieving.
But if you don't, then don't push it. And then back up. Just going to rock forwards and back again. And then one final time.
And back onto your front. Come up onto your knees and then just finish with a bit more rocking. Okay, for the next bit we're going to use a light rod, light stick. So it can be a bit of dowel, it can be a broomstick, curtain pole, even an umbrella works.
So I'm going to go to standing. And the idea is that this is going to tell me when my back is in a straight position. I'm going to touch the back of my head, base of my spine, the middle of my upper back. If it comes away as I bend, I know that I'm bending my back.
So that's just to give me a little bit of feedback there. Now, we're not going to avoid bending our backs forever, but at the moment learning to move from your hips while keeping your back straight is a really useful thing. So that's a useful movement pattern that we want to practice. So I'm going to keep my knees roughly straight, slightly flexed, slightly soft.
And I'm just going to bend forward from my hips as far as is comfortable. Now, with people with a lot of back pain here, they may only be getting this far. That's absolutely fine. So again, we can make it a really small movement if we need to.
And then gradually, you'll find you can get a little bit further, but we're not going to force it. So this is all about quality of movement and whether or not you can touch your toes. So again, if I find that the stick is coming away from my back, that's when I know that I need to keep my back a little bit straighter. Okay.
And just take a rest. We're going to go back. We're going to do that again. Feel free to have a little bit of a move around in between.
And then get back to this position. We're going to do another set of these. So again, keep this well within your tolerance levels. I always tell my clients, I don't want you to be a hero at this point.
My aim is for you to feel better after you finish this rehab session, not worse. Rest there. Put the stick to one side. And we're going to find a step now.
So you can use an ordinary book or you can use the bottom step of a staircase. Either of those is fine. I'm going to place one foot on the step. I'm going to lift up.
So again, my back's in a nice straight position. I'm using my glutes here. And this can be quite a nice exercise for people with back pain. It can actually feel quite relieving.
Again, make it as easy as you need to. If you need to just use a small book to start with, that's absolutely fine. Okay. Okay.
Switch sides. The idea is I'm lifting with this leg on top and not pushing off the leg that's on the floor if I can help it. And we're going to leave that there for day one. So we're going to return some of these exercises over the course of the week and we're going to make them harder.
Do go back and repeat this session. So as I said before, little and often is the way forward. Doing little bits of these exercises through the day rather than trying to do lots all at once is the best approach in the early stages when your back's quite sore. So we will see you back here for day two of our program.
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