Lower back pain and weakness is all over the place. According to statistics 80% of population will experience some sort of lower back pain in their lifetime and Americans will be spending over $200 billion per year for the treatment.
There are 3 reasons for why we experience lower back pain. First is there are more sitting. No matter how much the chair improve its ergonomics or come up with better sitting posture, long duration of sitting put more load on the lower back than standing. Second is obesity. Being overweight put more load to the lower back, especially if you have tendency to sit more frequently. Third is consumption of packaged food. Not only this will promote obesity but also lead to digestive distress and may cause more irritation to the lower back.
Although we do understand sitting is the common issue with lower back pain and weakness, however, so many things that we need to accomplish on day to day basis may require sitting. Which means we will need to understand how to improve our lower back health and strength so even when sitting is required you will have a way to avoid becoming a victim.
Major focus on improving the lower back health and strength is to strengthening and mobilizing your hips and glutes. Because of sitting in one position, glutes or the butt muscles become under active and hips become tight.
Clam Shells
First exercise is called clam shells. If you've been to physical therapy you may have done this exercise before. Most important part of the exercise is to be able to feel the glutes working. To do so, have one hand placed at your hip as the video shows. Also, work on keeping your abdomen engaged. Abdomen and glutes should be working together. On the video, I'm using the band to add resistance but you can start without the band until you can properly engage your glutes. Do 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions on each side.
Hip Bridges
Second exercise is hip bridges. You can perform this exercise on the floor, however, seems to be more effective with leaning against bench, box, couch and so on.
Common mistake with this exercise is when lifting up the hip, people usually push off with their heel instead of the entire feet. If you are feeling the exercise more in the hamstring, you are using your heel more than the entire foot. Have the image of digging the feet to the ground and push the box back. Another mistake is position of the head. Keep your eye fixed on your belly and not ceiling. This should help engage abdomen while exercising your glutes. Do 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions. If you can pause the movement at the top for 2-3 seconds before lowering the hip.
Lateral Step Up
Third exercise is lateral step ups. You can use chair, steps, stairs, or box. The height of the object is ideally at about your knee height but you can start off from lower step and work your way up. Just like the hip bridge, the entire foot should be used to push yourself up instead of just your toes or heel. Work on stepping down as slow as you can. Focus on squeezing the glutes and abdomen as you get yourself on top of the box. Perform 3 sets of 6-10 repetitions.
All three exercises are to strengthen the glutes, which means you will need to focus on activating the muscles as you perform the exercise. However, initially, you may not be able to control the muscle as much as you like. Practice! You can work on this 2-3 times per week. As the glutes strengthens, it will support your lower back and able to minimize the usage of lower back as main support and have glutes become the primary, which it should be.
Kota Shimada
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