Have you ever gone to the doctor for lower back pain and was told to either lose weight or do lower back exercises? If so, the hoola hoop may be the tool for you. About 45% of the US population has had lower back pain and it’s the second leading cause for disability.

As a Certified Functional Manual Therapist and Pilates Certified Physical Therapist, I have had the opportunity to treat patients primarily diagnosed with acute or chronic lower back pain. Often, the patient’s lower back pain is mechanical in nature. Mechanical lower back pain is a result of a dysfunction of the muscles/ligaments and/or misalignment of the spine and/or pelvis. Therefore, they CAN be treated with manual therapy, education, and lower back exercises.

According to pioneer physical therapist, Gregg Johnson, our core stabilizers are the transverse abdominus, pelvic floor muscles, multifidus,and deep fibers of the hip flexors and quadratus lumborum. When our body experiences lower back pain, our body has a mechanism that “inhibits” these muscles. Once these muscles are “sleeping”, our body lacks protection from perturbations. This can lead to further injury and pain.

Our body has two types of muscle fibers: phasic and tonic. Our phasic muscles are our “movers” for quick movements like getting out of bed and do not last long. On the other hand, our tonic muscles are for “posture” by stabilize the body. Tonic muscles are capable of working for long periods of time. Therefore, the core muscles are known as tonic muscles. Again, when the body feels pain, these tonic muscles, known as “core stabilizers”, turn off and it is my job to teach you specific exercises to “wake” those muscles up again.

Therefore, I focus on core stabilizing exercises to “wake” up the “protective” muscles. One way to do this is with hoola hooping. Many patients note their abdomen feeling sore the next day after hooping and did not even feel like they were working their abs out.

Not only does the hoola hoop focus on core stabilization, certain movements performed in conjunction with the hoop can also help with lower back pain. These lower back exercises with the hoop can help improve posture, increase coordination and balance, gain body awareness and symmetry, teach your spine and pelvis to be supple again, and lose weight from  a cardiovascular perspective. These additional benefits can also help decrease lower back pain.

As you know, lower back pain can be very disabling. Hoola hooping lower back exercises can also help prevent lower back pain and help your body be efficient with its movement and perform your daily functions with increase ease.

Jodi Jainchill PT, CFMT