I've had recurring lower back pain for over a decade. I gave up squats and dead lifts 12 years ago because of it. It's left me flat on my back in bed, immobilized many dozens of times. Along with hundreds of days where I may have been upright and mobile, but had limited functionality and a lot of pain.
I've been to a half dozen different orthopedists and physical therapists to no avail. Well, to be fair, it was an orthopedic intern who told me about a book called The Back Mechanic.
I never bought the book, because I'm cheap (and it wasn't). But I did google what it recommends for low back pain. There are three exercises it says to do every single day: bird dogs, side planks, and a type of crunch. I tried them all, but only ended up doing the bird dogs as part of my long term plan. I do side planks from time to time also, but not daily like the bird dogs.
There are 5 things I've been doing consistently that have helped me have the best 8 months of back health I've had in 12 years. I want to be clear though, I haven't 'cured' or 'fixed' my low back pain. My back doesn't feel like it did 20 years ago. It still aches if I sit too long. I can still tweak it or overuse it if I'm not careful, but even when I do it recovers more quickly.
I chose the word manage because that's all I've achieved so far. However, it's made a world of difference to me. I imagine anyone with chronic low back pain would welcome this level of relief as well.
Here is what I mean by manage:
Can bend down and tie my shoes first thing in the morning
Haven't missed any leg workouts due to low back pain
Only tweaked my back once, and recovered in 1 day rather than a week
Can do strenuous yard work (digging, hauling, sawing, climbing, etc...)
Have not tweaked my back during a workout
Hit personal records on Dead Lifts and T-Bar Squats*
* Not lifetime records, but records for Old Guy Matt (45+)
Here are the 5 things I've been doing, in order of importance for me:
1) Bird Dogs
I try to do these every single day, but usually end up missing a day here or there. I believe they are the single biggest contributor to my newfound relief.
I don't know exactly why they help so much. I believe they align and also strengthen the lower back. They're so simple, I felt kind of silly doing them at first. But now I swear by them!
This is a bird dog:
Get on all fours with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
Maintain a neutral spine (don't arch or round your back).
Lift and straighten your right arm and left leg.
Hold for 10 seconds.
Lift and straighten your left arm and right leg
. Hold for 10 seconds.
Repeat this 5 times for a total of 6 each side. That's it!
Some Helpful tips:
Do not try to get your leg, arm, and torso in the same plane. Focus on keeping your spine neutral. Your hand and foot may only be a few inches off the floor, and that's OK! (Most pictures I found online showed someone holding their leg or arm too high, causing their back to arch! That's why I chose the illustration above. Arching your back is a very common mistake you need to avoid!)
This is related to the previous point. When doing bird dogs, there seems to be a natural inclination to raise your leg or arm too high, which can cause your back to arch. I find it helpful to focus on extending my hand and foot toward whatever is in front of and behind me. Like I'm trying to touch the walls with my hand and foot. It helps me focus on stretching horizontally rather than raising vertically.
Keep your knees fairly close together, maybe 4 or 6 inches apart. It will help your balance if the knee which remains on the floor is closer to your center.
It's important to keep your spine neutral, but you don't have to fire your abs super hard the whole time. It's not like a plank. Just exert enough effort to keep the back straight.
Ways to progress and make it more challenging:
Increase the hold time. I worked up to 30 seconds per side, and have done up to 60 seconds as well. However, 60 seconds just feels too long so I usually do 30 seconds for 6 reps each side.
Increase the repetitions per side. I occasionally do 8, 10, or 12 per side.
Engage your butt, leg, arm, and back muscles during the hold. You don't need to tighten them as hard as possible. Just engage them all lightly to fairly medium, with the most focus on the butt muscle. I find it helpful to either point my toes or pull my toes toward my body. Making a light fist or flattening your hand can also be helpful.
Here is my video tutorial on Bird Dogs:
2) Wrap Around Knee Braces
If you don't have knee issues like me, this probably wouldn't be as important for you. My knees are not terrible. They are more creaky and a little painful than damaged (my cartilage is actually in good shape). I usually do OK after warming them up.
I finally realized my knee pain was causing me to alter my form, which was causing me to put extra stress on my lower back during leg exercises. Mainly during Dead Lifts, but also with T-Bar Squats (aka Landmine Squats).
My particular knee issue is arthritis under the knee cap. The recommended type of brace to help my problem is one that guides and supports the knee cap. There are many different types available, ranging in price from less than $10 to well over $100 each. I started at the low end to find the least expensive, yet effective, solution.
These $8 braces from Amazon did the trick for me:
A few minutes on a stationary bike also helps warm up my knees. With the braces on, my knees feel secure and I can focus on maintaining proper form with my lower back.
3) Strengthening Core
I don't think I had a weak core, but I didn't intentionally strengthen it either. I didn't work abs very often. They were less than an afterthought, unless I was getting lean for photos and wanted them to pop out more.
The past eight months I've been consistently doing ab work 3 to 4 times per week.
I usually pick 1, 2, or 3 of the following:
Crunches with legs straight
Crunches with feet flat
Side crunches
Reverse crunches with knees bent
Lying leg raises
Hanging leg raises
Hanging leg circles
Planks
Ab roller
Side planks
There are many more ways to hit your abs, so find whatever works for you. Don't take your core strength for granted like I did.
4) Reinforced Back Brace
I used to avoid using a back brace because I thought it was like a crutch, and therefore counterproductive to strengthening my lower back. There is some logic to that line of thinking, but I've come to see things differently.
Some of the main benefits of using a back brace, especially one like this, are that it:
Reduces the load on the lower back.
Spreads out the load more evenly along the lower back.
Helps align the lower back correctly (spine neutral, not arched or rounded).
Reminds you to focus on maintaining proper form.
This brace has ribbing in the back for some extra support. It also has an additional wrap around Velcro strap, which helps get it very tight and adds a little extra support.
This one seems to work well for what I need. There are other braces available that offer even more support in the way of stiffer ribbing and thicker materials.
5) Lower Volume on Leg Work and Small Incremental Load Increases
When I gave up squats and dead lifts years ago, I started doing all my heavy leg work with leg presses. To reduce the stress on my lower back, I limited my range of motion to a 90 degree bend at my knees.
However, I did a LOT of weight, sets, and reps! Looking back, it was probably way more volume (and wear and tear) than was necessary.
Although I've maintained decent leg strength over the past decade, I noticed a few years ago that my glutes (butt muscles) were not what they used to be!
So, what I've done is cut way back on the number of working/heavy sets I do for legs as well as changing my main leg exercises. Rather than leg presses, my heavy leg work is now done with:
T-Bar Squats (aka Landmine Squats)
Dead Lifts with Hoop Bar (aka Trap/Hex Bar Deadlifts)
These exercises hit the glutes really well. And my glutes have totally grown over the last 8 months. This is probably TMI, but I can literally feel the extra meat on my butt when I sit on the toilet.
Also, I'm being patient with my weight progression. I only add 2.5 lbs at a time on T-Bar Squat and just go until I hit my rep count. For Dead Lifts with Hoop Bar, I do something similar and only progress 5 lbs at a time.
I'm just doing 2 working/heavy sets per workout for each of these two exercises, which is way less volume than I used to do for legs. I also do other miscellaneous leg work, like Lying Leg Curls, Hip Adduction, Hip Abduction, Cable Kick Backs, etc... I'm stimulating growth without overdoing it on my lower back. This gives my lower back plenty of time to recover and grow stronger between workouts.
My patience has paid off. I've added 50+ lbs on each exercise since last spring! And I haven't tweaked my back even once during a workout!
If you haven't lived with chronic lower back issues, it may be hard to understand. But this really is epic for me! These changes have brought me relief in this area for the first time in 12 years! If you are someone who needs it, I hope they may help you as well.
Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
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