Ways to Reduce Lower Back Pain

Approximately 75-90% of the population suffers from low back pain.  This equates to over a billion sufferers worldwide. To put that into perspective; low back pain is a more common ailment than heart disease, asthma, diabetes, mental problems, and orthopedic conditions, just to name a few.

Dr. Kennedy believes good lifestyle choices are crucial to avoid joining that 75-90%. This means being active, eating right, and getting enough rest and relaxation… it’s about balance and taking care of you.

To help prevent low back pain, add these quick tips to your daily activity:

1) Stop Leaning!

Often patient’s come to me with poor hip alignment, sore knees, and necks. Leaning is the devil, and while it is the body’s easy way of keeping you upright, locking up the joints on one side of your body and using them as a splint can seriously throw you out of alignment.

2) Soften Your Knees!

Locking out the knee joint is lazy and your body’s way of doing less work to keep you upright. While it may feel comfortable and require less energy locking out your knees, it is not only increasing pressure through the joint itself, but it also increases pressure through the lumbar (lower back).

3) Squeeze Your Butt!

Now, I don’t mean actually squeeze it, I mean activate. The glute muscles are one of the biggest in the body, and by not using them you are relying too heavily on your lower back to do the work. Increasing your glute activation through daily living activities will significantly decrease the occurrence of low back pain. Now, this doesn’t mean 100% squeeze/activation (ever tried to walk with your glutes fully contracted)? Try anywhere from 20-30%.

These 3 tips can significantly decrease low back pain and can assist in correcting body and spinal alignment. Having a weak component in this chain can significantly increase the workload for the muscles or joint in the chain

It might not be easy, and it might take more energy to begin with, but a gradual implementation of these tips can have incredible benefits.   And if you’re currently suffering from chronic low back in pain, contact our clinic today for an appointment.  We’ll review your symptoms, do an initial treatment and set a customized path to head you down the road to a pain-free future.