A few years back I struggled with lower back pain and after a referral to an orthopaedic surgeon I was told that I had permanent tissue damage between two of my vertabrae. I was also told I shouldn’t run more than 8 k’s a day.
So the fitness freak and problem solver in me started finding out what I can do if I still want to run at the rate I was and look after my back at the same time. I then saw a physiotherapist that told me to strengthen my core and this involved my lower back muscles as well as my abdominals. It wasn’t even a month later and I didn’t have lowe back pain again and I train twice a day now running about 8 km’s each session.
So enough about me. What can you do to strengthen your core and protect your body agains damage? First of all focus on something as simple as your posture while sitting and make sure that you have the right chairs at work. Sit upright, shoulders back, but tight and head upright. Sure, it will feel weird cause you’ve been sitting like a monkey.
The core is not only abdominal muscles and back muscles it also includes your pelvic floor muscles and hip flexors. Minor core muscles also include the hamstrings, glutes (butt), lats and traps.
Some basic exercises you can do at home is the basic crunch exercises, proper situps, 1 minute planks and the superman exercises, only naming a few. Click on the links for examples on how to do these exercises and more. It has been proven that these exercises amongst athletes has proven to decrease the prevalence of injuries.
Now use your free time, and if you only have 5 seconds use this time to strengthen your core muscles.
Xoxo Dan the Wooman
It’s_ALL_IN_the_Balance 