The 4 worst exercises for your lower back!!

Millions of us are stricken with lower back pain and if you’ve been there chances are you’ve tried some exercises to avoid it. But what if I told you that many of the exercises we think are helping us get in better shape to deal with this pain are actually making this pain worse! Everyone has had a friend, a trainer or a colleague tell them what THEY did that helped their pain. But how do we know what is right for us??

Not every exercise is bad for everyone and not every exercise is good for everyone. But here are the top 5 worst exercises for lumbar pain that I’ve found in my 16 years as a Certified Athletic Trainer.

1. Static stretching your hamstrings. “My hamstrings are tight, I should stretch them.” It is true that a lot of lower back pain is accompanied by tight hamstrings. But if we look at the pelvis anatomically a spasmed lower back and tight hip flexors would raise the origin of the hamstrings and cause them to feel tight. Are they tight? YES. Will stretching help? NO. Think of them as a rubber band that is stretched to the max, it feels tight, there’s certainly less range of motion, but it is NOT going to get any longer. If we are stretching anything, it’s gonna be the hip flexors.
2. CORE exercises. “Gotta work your core to help your back, it’s your gut that the problem. ” There are two problems with this statement. One, working your core doesn’t mean doing sit-ups and two, no matter how many you do it’s not gonna get rid of that gut. Yes, losing weight would help. But spinal flexion exercises would exacerbate the problem of tight hip flexors and put undue stress on the lumbar spine. Exercises like planks can help but only if you’ve strengthened your lower back FIRST!
3. Compressive exercises. Closed chain exercises (think anything with your feet on the ground) can put undue compression on the spine. Especially for those with disc issues adding a compression to the spine could exacerbate those problems. Squats, lunges, leg press and overhead press all fall into this category. Strengthening your legs is very important however this should start with open chain exercises to avoid compression on the spine.
4. Rotary exercises. Similar to compression exercises, rotary exercises like the rotary torso machine can cause undue stress on the discs of the lumbar spine. These can easily close down joint space on the sides of your spine further exacerbating your lower back pain.

Thanks for reading my blog and hopefully modifying or eliminating these exercises helps you with your lower back pain. Feel free to comment below any issues you’d like me to address in the future.