How to Address Low Back Pain

For those who suffer from low back pain, the symptoms can be quite debilitating and can negatively impact many facets of people’s lives.

Lower Back Pain – What are the affects?

1. Not being able to enjoy their favorite activities.
2. Unable to sleep.
3. Unable to work.
4. Unable to play with their children.
5. Unable to do basic daily tasks.
6. Unhappy with their physical abilities.
7. Psychologically stressed and depressed.

Treatments for Lower Back Pain

Needless to say back pain is a serious concern for many people of all ages. There are a variety of treatment and exercise options that aim to address back pain, such as chiropractic, physical therapy, cryotherapy, cupping, massage, myofascial release, pnf stretching, and one of the most unique of all methods is Muscle Activation Techniques. Each one of these methods has a specific lens it looks through when addressing the problem of back pain. This variety of perspectives results in different conclusions on the causes of back and pain and thus resulting in different approaches towards attempting to resolve the problem.

Interesting facts about Back Pain

• “Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010.
• Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work. In fact, back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections.
• One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year.2
• Experts estimate that as much as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in their lives.3
• Most cases of back pain are mechanical or non-organic—meaning they are not caused by serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer.
• Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain—and that’s just for the more easily identified costs.” American Chiropratic Association

The Muscular System’s role in Back Pain

Muscular dysfunction, inhibition, and weakness are arguably the biggest culprits for why people suffer from back pain. Simply put, muscular dysfunction is when a person is unable to contract (or tighten) specific muscles adequately to solve a movement based challenge. Muscular dysfunction can be a result of trauma, lack of use, stress, overuse, food intolerances, medications, and much more. Whatever the cause of the muscle dysfunction is the fact still remains, something needs to be done to improve the muscles health, function, and strength. One of the most powerful tools available to achieve this is appropriate exercise. The real challenge isn’t just partaking in exercise, but instead the challenge is in determining what the right exercises are for the individual and their very unique back pain experience. No one person’s back pain will be exactly the same, thus the plan for healing ought to be unique to the individual’s specific needs.

Addressing Back Pain with Exercise

A great place to start with addressing back pain is to begin an appropriate custom designed exercise process that is focused on restoring the health and function of the individual’s muscular system. This is not typical exercise. Exercise with the level of specificity I’m referring to is not offered by very many practitioners or trainers in the health and fitness industry. Mindful Motion LA is an example of a company that offers the specialized exercise process I’m referring to. Mindful Motion LA records incredible amounts of data about each client to generate a truly custom fit exercise process for the individual. Such data consists of but is not limited to:

1. Comparative assessments of motions.
2. Posture analysis.
3. Gait analysis.
4. Specific movement pattern analysis.
5. Positional Strength tests.
6. Manual muscle tests.
7. Traditional and Non-traditional strength training.
8. Isolated Exercises. (Single Joint Exercises to improve the Horsepower of individual muscles)
9. Multiple Joint Exercises.

Muscle Activation Techniques Improve Muscle Function

One of the most powerful tools that Mindful Motion LA uses to improve muscle function is Muscle Activation Techniques. MAT is a phenomenal process for assessing and correcting muscular dysfunction, Restoring and improving an individual’s muscle function and strength. Rather than focusing on the back pain itself Mindful Motion LA uses MAT and Advanced Exercise to address the source of the back pain (in this cause addressing muscular inhibition). Mindful Motion LA will work with clients on restoring their muscles ability to contract and contract on demand. Clients then begin to move better, feel better, and grow stronger. If you suffer from back pain your problem can likely be resolvable with custom fit client defined exercise. If you are looking for a means to resolve your back pain with exercise visit www.mindfulmotionla.com and schedule your complimentary consultation.

Written By: Erick Holtzman