Category: Low Back Therapy & Ab Core Training

Low Back Therapy aims to relieve back pain. Since there is a high recurrence of low back pain, the goals of physical therapy and an exercise program are to increase strength, flexibility and function while decreasing pain. Normally, low back therapy is a continuous program to maintain the gains experienced during therapy. It can involve different treatment techniques including heat, ultrasound, massage, range of motion, an exercise program as well as information about posture and body mechanics.

3 Simple Steps Guaranteed to Reduce Low Back Pain

I feel so strongly about my low back rehab plan that I’m going to guarantee it will reduce your low back pain!

Low back pain will affect 80% of the population at sometime in their life.  Does that mean you should take a passive role and worry about the issues related to the injury when the time comes?  No!!  Being proactive and addressing the three common factors related to the injury is the smart approach and the typical method of managing injuries at MikeRyanSportsMedicine.com.

Proactive Pre-Hab

Preventative Rehabilitation or “Pre-Hab” is what wise sports medicine specialists utilize when working with elite athletes.  Determining areas of concern such as bilateral asymmetry, poor biomechanics, overly tight and hyperactive muscles/connective tissue, overly elongated and hypoactive muscles/connective tissue and/or poor posture are potential factors.

Finding potential problems and implementing a plan to improve these conditions is the basic premise of what I do every day with my athletes.  Low back therapy is one of the most challenging yet rewarding components of sports medicine.

The Benefits of Proactive Pre-Hab

When an athlete reduces or eliminates a negative factor such as an overly tight muscle or poor posture that is contributing to the symptoms, he/she will benefit in four ways:

1.  Their performance will be enhanced.

2.  They reduce the need to subconsciously compensate which will greatly reduces potential soft tissue issues elsewhere in the body.

3.  The area of concern is less prone to injury.

4.  If an injury does occur, the injury will be much less severe.

Danger Zones for Low Back Pain

In my opinion, most non-traumatic low back injuries are related to three factors.  If you focus on improving these three factors, you will gain the upper hand on preventing low back pain.  In most cases, it’s that simple.

1.  Poor Hamstring Flexibility – Too much time sitting and too little time elongating the hammys.

2.  Functionally Weak Abs – The lower abs are the key.  If you strengthen this area of your rectus abdominus, from your navel down to the front of your pelvis, you’ll be able very happy with the results.

3.  Poor Body Mechanics – It’s simply about being lazy.  From tying your shoes to picking something off the ground to sitting in a chair, poor body mechanics and poor posture is killing your lumbar disc.  Meanwhile, the disc provides no neurological feedback about it’s injury….until it’s too late.

Three Steps to Avoid or Reduce Low Back Pain

As you can imagine, these three steps of low back therapy are based on solving the three problem areas previously noted.

Step #1 – Increase Hamstring Flexibility

This may not be the fun and exciting exercise that your friends are bragging about but it may prove to be one of the most important activity of your day if staying healthy is part of your master plan.

“Lead With the Navel”

To Do: Bear with me on this one…..With your foot on a low step/chair approximately 2 feet off the floor, keep your elevated leg straight with your pelvis “squared” and facing your raised foot.  While maintaining a lordotic or “sway back” curve in your low back and your shoulders back, slowly lean forward leading with your navel to a comfortable hamstring stretch position and “freeze like a stone statue”, as I explain to my pro football players.

Using a chair or wall to help stabilize yourself, perform 5 slow and deep breaths and relax the body.  Perform for 3-5 reps of 5 breaths with the focus on maintaining the sway back position of the low back , leading with the navel and slooow breathing.

Step #2 – Improve Ab Strength from the Ribs to the Pelvis

You have six main groups of Abs and none of them go over the hip joints or shoulder joints.  Therefore, many of the exercises and fancy “Ab machines” typically force your body to compensate with other muscles instead of isolating the Abs.

To Do: Performing multiple Ab exercises to include planks, good-ol’ crunches with the feet on the ground, pelvis rolls with feet on the ground, side-lying raises, med ball throws and crunch twists are great exercises to be performed on a firm surface when applying the following key points:

  • Exhale HARD, FAST & COMPLETE with every rep.
  • Hold the end position for all moves while performing a solid 2 second isometric contraction at the end of the range,
  • Perform all reps slow and controlled throughout the complete range of motion in both directions for reps of 15.
  • Keep the rest phase between all Ab exercises very short (20-30 seconds) to maximize the fatigue of all the muscles.

Step #3 – Master Your Body Mechanics

Low Back Anatomy Lesson 101: The back discs in your entire spine have no internal nerve receptors.  Only the very outer edge of the disc has the ability to perceive pain.  Therefore, poor body mechanics can be ruining your back and literally grind up the all-important discs of the low back or neck with no warning signs or “head’s up, your killing your back” text messages.

To Do: Maintain a low back “C Curve” with the open section of the “C” facing backwards for all your activities, period.  That means when you sit in your car, when you tie your shoes, when you’re getting off the toilet, when you bend over to brush your teeth,…etc.  It sounds simple and it is when you focus on doing it consistently.  Think about how many people you know that “threw their back out” doing very simple activities.

Back saving tip: Never, never, never tie your shoeslaces with your foot on the ground.  It creates massively high intradiscal pressure in your low back and you don’t want that.   Instead, put your foot up on a chair or box to put your back and pelvis in a safe position to tie those fancy new sneakers.

In closing, I hope this opens your eyes to simple ways to avoid lumbar pain with an active lifestyle.  The goal of this article is to keep you in that happy 20% of the population that never experiences low back pain.  Focussing on the MRF motto (Keep it simple, easy to understand and producing fast results), apply these 3 simple steps daily and enjoy the ride.

Ab Exercises: The Truth about the “Six Pack”

Core workouts should be a key part of everyone’s workout plan.  If you’re like most people, you want a flatter stomach and stronger abdominal (Abs) muscles.  Sure they look great but the best reason for having functionally strong Abs are the priceless benefits they provide for both injury performance and injury protection.

Secondary to the far reaches of our solar system, the human abdominal musculature seems to contain some of man’s greatest mysteries.  Plagued by countless myths of strengthening exercises, bizarre abdominal exercise machines and dietary rituals, the Abs have become far more complicated than they need to be.

As a professional football athletic trainer and physical therapist with a passion for fitness, I have personally witnessed the ever increasing onslaught of misguided information with a concerning eye.

So today I want to clarify the difference between the important facts and the confusing myths within the sports medicine world.

Because most exercises for abs are time-consuming and poorly structured, many athletes are at a higher risk of a low back injury.  Improper technique and poor body mechanics are the major factors for low back pain when performing traditional abdominal exercises.

However strong abdominal muscles are indeed important. And not just to look good on the beach or in that new sleek party dress.  Although those may be good visual reasons, the health and function factors are the critical factors everyone should be concerned with.

In fact, if you were to select only one muscle group on your body to condition, what group would that be?  If you were wise, the answer would be “my Abs”!

Why are your abdominal muscles so significant? To demonstrate the many reasons, join me in these simple exercises. First, put one of your hands firmly across your abdomen.  Now use your other arm to push your hand into any part of your leg.  Now push your leg into the ground.  Next, start to whistle.  Did you notice that your abs quickly contracted with all three of these elementary tasks?  The truth is that your abdominal muscles work with almost EVERY movement or function of your body?  I find that type of complexity fascinating and so will you when you learn to effectively train your abs.

Abdominal Myths

Myth #1

“Your Abs can be strengthened every day”.

FACT – The truth is with a high intensity workout, your Abs are no different from any other muscle group and need 48 hours to recover.

Myth #2

“A Core Workout requires at least 30 minutes of exercise”.

FACT – If you are taking more than 12 minutes to complete the exercises for Abs, you are either not isolating your Abs at a high enough intensity or you are giving them way too much rest.

Myth #3

“Full situps, leg raises and hanging knee tucks are a must to strengthen the Abs”.

FACT – Of your four abdominal groups, not a single muscle fiber crosses over your hip joints. This means that full sit-ups, leg raises and hanging knee tucks are dangerous leg and hip motions that can easily injury your low back because your ABS are not the prime movers in these exercises.

8 Tips For Your Six Pack Abs Workout

1)   Technique is the #1 most important component of each drill.

2)   Perform a COMPLETE exhalation with every upward movement of the drills.

3)   Listen to your body to ensure that you are experiencing intense fatigue and a cramping sensation in the exact area being isolated.

4)   A slow and controlled isolated muscle movement in both directions at a high intensity is the key to rapid results.

5)   If you want to showcase your newly awoken muscle, reduce your abdominal fat with a consistent aerobic exercise program and a low fat diet.

6)   Perform your abdominal drills 3 times per week avoiding back to back days.

7)   Only perform these drills on a firm surface like a carpet or a padded workout mat.

8)   Allow only 20 seconds rest between ALL drills.

Core Workouts: An Overview

The scope of this article is to introduce the basic concepts of my upcoming dynamic trunk stability eBook.  Understanding this will ensure you properly and SAFELY train your Abs during any core workout.

As with any ab exercises and workout programs, it is wise to consult your physician before starting.

Utilizing these principles with your Abs workout is a very effective way to develop a strong and healthy trunk.  Remember, besides looking and feeling great, strong Abs is one of the most effective steps to significantly reduce your chances of injuring your lower back!

As for you, my objective is to help you improve your health and fitness each & every day.  And having stronger Abs is a great way to start.