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Prevention
Introduction |
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There are two basic elements to preventing back pain.
Essentially, you need to:
- Strengthen your back.
Most people with chronic (or long term) back pain have weak, dysfunctional muscles –
their spine is physically weak. Unfortunately, conventional exercise programmes tend to
focus on strength training, without paying any attention to the spine itself. As a result,
it’s all too easy to pull and strain your muscles, and then give up.
The point that is often overlooked is that flexibility comes before strength – you
need to decompress your spine (using the backrack),
increase your flexibility, and then strengthen your back. To find out how to do
this, visit our section on Exercises.
- Adopt the right posture.
The effects of bad posture aren’t immediately apparent – it may take a number of
years (or even decades) for pain, stiffness and other symptoms to develop. Nevertheless,
the symptoms can be severe.
Taking the time to improve your posture should help – it will lower the amount of
force on your back, position your spine to resist injury, and improve your overall health.
To find out how to do this, visit our section on Posture.
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