Which Lower Back Exercises Should I Do To Strengthen My Back?

There are so many lower back exercises and approaches to exercises, how do you know which are best for you? Once you gain an understanding that you are trying to strengthen your core muscles, your choices become simpler.

Be sure you understand that it is important not only to work core muscles, but how you do the exercises. Once you gain an understanding that core muscles stabilize the spine all day, it makes sense that you want to do exercises that hold for a long period of time. Holding the exercise for the core will train the muscles correctly to do their job. Yes, there job is to make your spine stable day and night!

One of the most fun and beneficial exercise that works the core is hoola hooping. Once you get the ’spin’ going, you tap into the core muscles. You ‘wake’ them up. And because hooping is so much fun, you can build up spinning the hoop for longer periods of time. In this exercise, you actually perform a ‘functional’ exercise.

A ‘functional’ exercise is when you are performing movement that looks like a daily activity. For example, when you are hooping in stride position, it works a position you go through in your walking cycle. Also, in this position, it stretches your hip flexor muscles. The hip flexors are often a culprit of lower back pain. This position also replicates the movement you do when you reach up for an object. And this is with only basic hooping.

As you progress with hooping exercises,, you can challenge your core in other functional positions like squatting. The more you can find exercises in functional positions, the more benefit you will get out of the exercise. On the other hand, a non-functional exercise may get that muscle stronger, but not necessarily be stronger when doing an activity. For example, one exercise for your quadriceps is in sitting. You sit on a machine with your leg bent and push a weight up to straighten your leg. Where would you realistically need to do that daily? See my point? So, it is best to find ‘functional’ lower back exercises.

Some other ideas include bridging while squeezing a ball between your knees. Once you build up your stamina and hold the exercise for longer periods of time, you are waking up the core muscles in another functional position. Another functional core exercise would be on your hands and knees. This position is known as quadraped. In this exercise, you reach with your arms and/or legs in different variations. It is important to do this exercise trying to make yourself long with each reach. You want to make sure your spine maintains a ‘neutral’ posture. This really wakes up the core muscles along your upper and lower back and abdomen. This exercise helps stabilize your spine for activities you may do on your hands and knees like scrubbing the floor or playing with your children.

Using these examples may further help you decide if an exercise will tap into your core and help you in a functional way. Remember, once you understand what you are trying to achieve in an exercise, you can modify and change the exercise to fit your needs and be safe.

Jodi Jainchill PT, CFMT

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