Although obesity of itself does not cause back pain, being overweight increases your risk of back pain. Americans watch television an average of four hours per day. Start utilizing some of the time you spend watching television to reduce your back pain by simply incorporating as much movement as possible during your television time. Make the effort to maintain an idea body weight to reduce your risk of back pain.
1. Shed those extra pounds while walking in place. Walking is an excellent way to shed extra pounds and to improve your cardiovascular health as well.
While watching television walking in place for 30 minutes is an excellent activity to incorporate during your television time. If you lose focus while walking in place during a television program, you can limit this activity to commercial time only, because there are about 20 minutes of commercials during a one hour program. If keeping track of time doesn’t work for you, purchase a pedometer and strive to walk 10,000 steps per day. Arrange to walk in place during your favorite television show and see how easy it is to accumulate the steps. Start stepping today!
2. After sitting and watching television for thirty minutes, take a postural break. Never sit any longer than two hours continuously. Walk to the bathroom or go to the kitchen and get a glass of water after thirty minutes. This will give your back muscles a much-needed break. Prolonged sitting is one of the worst things you can do to your back because it increases the risk of back pain.
3. Place a lumbar roll in your chair. This will improve your sitting posture and reduce your back pain.
4. Utilize stability balls to improve your posture. Stability balls are great for the back. Simply sitting on a stability ball correctly will help to improve your posture and increase your abdominal strength. You can find these large balls at many stores. Purchase one and start increasing the strength of your back muscles today.
5. Increase the strength of your core with stability ball exercises. This can easily be done while watching television. Utilize the stability ball to perform simple exercises like wall slides during commercials.
6. For advanced strengthening of your core, try this technique. While on all fours, tighten the stomach and raise right or left leg and the opposite arm. Keep your back rigid. Repeat 10 times to make a set. Do two sets per session. Do one session per day.
7. Perform extension exercises. We spend a great amount of time flexing our backs; therefore, we need to perform extension exercises to counteract these activities. These exercises can easily be done by standing with hands on your hips and bending backwards. However, if you have spinal stenosis, avoid this stretch.
Remember: before beginning any exercise program, check with your physician. Don’t do any exercise that causes pain.
Get started today utilizing these seven secrets to reduce your back pain.
©2011 Winifred Bragg, MD. All Rights Reserved.
Winifred Bragg, MD is the CEO of the Spine and Orthopedic Pain Center, and is also a keynote speaker and author of Knockoutpain(R):Secrets to Maintain a Healthy Back.
She has taught thousands why staying strong and maintaining a strong mental toughness are essential to overcoming adversities. She has been featured on NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS news television segments.
Dr. Bragg delivers powerful messages on the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and a commitment to self-improvement as key elements to succeed.