spinal stenosis
What went wrong? I started working out at a gym when I was 16 years old. In just 1-2 years I had a satisfying result and felt like superman. What I didn't anticipate was at the age of 24 I had a herniated disc which had me lying in bed for a month and took another 6 months to get better. If only I knew when I first started what to be aware of. Unfortunately you usually know something is wrong when you feel pain and most of the times its too late.
Understand your condition An MRI will show in detail what's wrong with your back. Before that I took an x-ray and it only showed a spinal stenosis and not even at the part I was in pain. The MRI showed a severely herniated disc which pinched the nerve and caused sciatica all down my left leg. I couldn't walk, drive or even sit in a chair without being in pain. Some anti-inflammatory pills helped but you can't take them for a long period of time and when I stopped them for a few days it felt like I was back to square one. After the first few months and without getting much better I started to search the internet for answers since my doctors answer after 3 months of doing nothing was to rest. There is a lot of scattered information on the internet about back pain and treatments. The more you learn about back pain the better you will understand your condition and adapt your lifestyle.
Top 11 Back Pain Tips
1. Exercise regularly. An inactive lifestyle contributes to low back pain.
2. Drink a lot of water and avoid caffeinated drinks and alcohol.
3. Wear flat shoes or shoes with low heels (1 inch or lower).
4. If you must sit at your desk or at the wheel of a car or truck for long hours, break up the time with stops to stretch.
5. Don't lift by bending over. Lift an object by bending your knees and squatting to pick up the object. Keep your back straight and hold the object close to your body. Avoid twisting your body while lifting.
6. Push rather than pull when you must move heavy objects.
7. The best way to sleep is on your side with your knees bent. You may put a pillow under your head to support your neck. You may also put a pillow between your knees. Preferably on a firm surface
8. Try to practice good posture. Your back supports your weight most easily when it is straight.
9. If you smoke cut it down or quit; smoking reduces blood flow to the lower spine and causes the spinal discs to degenerate.
10. Eat a healthy diet with enough calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D to help promote new bone growth. If you don't take a multivitamin I suggest that you'd start
11. Keep extra weight off your waistline, where it can strain your lower back.
After searching the web and reading all kinds of articles and advertisements I found some interesting information. One of the most interesting and basic turn around in my routine was the lose the back pain system. They explain that muscle imbalances are the cause of the back pain and everyone should focus on what caused it and try to fix it rather than just use drugs and "cures" that just make the pain go away temporarily. The DVDs are very easy to follow, both in understanding the imbalances someone might have and the exercises that should be done to eliminate those imbalances.
Don't take anything you read or hear for granted. Listen to your body. If an exercise or stretch is too painful don't do it. Or try to stretch or workout that same muscle a different way that won't make your back hurt more. For example hamstring stretches by just standing and bending forward is a very difficult stretch especially if you have back pain so I found different ways to stretch my hamstrings that would strain my back. Do the same for every stretch or workout that is not comfortable for you. These are my personal opinions from my experiences and you should research and consult a physician or a doctor before applying any of these information.
I stopped taking pain killers and the basic anti-inflammatory drugs and started taking systemic enzymes that help you system keeping inflammation in lower levels and can be taken for a long period of time. I just checked around and found a athletics store that had a systemic enzyme formula. The results were not immediate but as I stuck to only that product I saw a steady improvement and for me that was enough. Again these are my personal opinions from my experiences and you should research and consult a physician or a doctor before applying any of these information.
Another thing that I found during my internet search was the inversion therapy. Some of you might have heard of it, some might not (like me). The testimonials for this kind of therapy vary and I was in a dilemma when thinking to buy one. Lucky me my parents knew someone that already had one and since he didn't need it at the time, he lend it to me. From my experience it helps. I can't be sure if it helps in the long run cause I was trying a lot of things at one time but there is a temporary relief when you do the inversion. Again these are my personal opinions from my experiences and you should research and consult a physician or a doctor before applying any of these information.
After feeling some improvement with the lose the back pain program, the enzymes and the inversion I added core strengthening exercises in my routine. Having a strong core is the cornerstone of physical health since it supports the whole body. In fact many of these chronic lower back pain and posture problems people have are due to having a weak core. With some research for different exercises on the internet and after trying them I decided which ones I would follow that didn't cause pain and would get the job done. Some of the exercises I did as I found them but some other I either executed with a more "pain free" variation and some I didn't even try for a second time. Some people use just core strengthening as a way to reduce back pain but I use this as a way to support and make my whole body more balanced and strong.
Don't stop working out If you used to workout before having the back pain you can continue once most of the pain is gone. You just have to change the way you work out. Obviously you can't go back lifting heavy weights but if you want to stay fit there are different ways you can do that without straining your back. I believe that especially people with back pain need to have strong muscles like biceps, triceps, quads because lets face it, at some point you're going to have to lift a chair or a box etc. If you don't have strong arms and legs you're going to be lifting the weight with (guess what) your back again, which will cause pain or injury. So its important to have a strong body. So if you never used to workout maybe you should try and take it very easy in the beginning.
* For me the best way to work out is swimming. It works out muscles you didn't even know you had and its very easy on your back. Plus I always thought that swimmers had the best bodies.
* Another way to work out is using your own body weight. Push-ups, pulls ups, chin-ups and dips are some of the exercises you can use but always listen to your body. If your back hurts for example when doing a push-up don't do them anymore.
* A good way to workout some muscles is by contracting them very hard by using either no weights at all or just very light weights. I know it might sound weird to some and it could be difficult to conceive if you haven't been to the gym at all but its pretty simple. Just do the motion of the exercise and pretend that you are lifting the maximum that you can lift, but in reality you're not lifting anything, you're just contracting the muscle fibers hard and working them out. Of course if someone sees you doing biceps with no weights and contracting like you're lifting a car it will look very funny but I love doing this kind of workout.
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