Here are my top three habits to avoid when considering lower back pain.
- Avoid excessive sitting. Sitting tightens hip flexors, loosens the glutes, which tilts the pelvis forward and down compressing the lower back.
- Avoid Hip flexor dominant cardio, exercise bike, elliptical, or running on a treadmill. This over activate your hip flexors which can pull your pelvis, and in turn, your lower back into dysfunction and pain.
- Don't Wear shoes or boots with heels. This shuts down the glutes which is a key muscle in supporting proper back health.
On the contrary, here are my top three habits you should introduce into your daily routine to ease pain.
- Practice Daily spinal decompression techniques twice a day such as belly breathing, standing up and swinging your legs back and forth, which will help traction the spine, or try lying face down over an exercise ball. The stretch routine in the next videos is a great example of this.
- Whenever doing cardio opt for glute dominant exercises such as incline walking on a treadmill, hill climbing, or stair climbing
- Try to walk with a longer stride, this helps activate the glutes.
Andrew Maynard
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Andrew introduces the workshop on low back health, and the common problem he will focus on: lower back pain. He discusses what constitutes as low back pain, increases your understanding of the issue, and reviews what the rest of the workshop will cover.
With back pain, we are immediately driven to know what’s wrong and how to relieve it. However, first understanding spinal anatomy is a key way to better grasp the issue and evaluate treatment options. Andrew covers basic anatomy of the lower back, to better increase your understanding of what is causing your aches and pains.
Join Andrew in exploring a few of the largest causes of lower back pain, namely lumbar compression of the spine, arthritis and muscle tightness. He dives into what each contributor is, how it effects the spine and other parts of the body, and best-known treatments.
Lifestyle has a massive impact on your lower back pain, and creating healthy, positive habits can provide relief, mitigate stiffness and prevent future issues. In this portion of the workshop, Andrew discusses top three habits to steer clear of, and top three lifestyle practices to implement into your daily routine, so you can start living a pain-free life.
Join Andrew in this 20 minute, follow-along stretching routine to reduce tightness, and bring relief to your low back. Implementing these quick and easy stretches into your daily routine will show positive, long-term results!
Andrew wraps up the workshop on lower back health with a few final tips and thoughts you can apply in your day-to-day routine.