Why is balance important for back pain?
I visited a company called IP Test in Guildford this week for a corporate wellness day. They are based in the Surrey Research Park, they area technology company that are doing some incredible work with electrical innovation. They build semi-conductors; I have only read about these in the paper and always thought they come from China and there is a big battle between the USA and China.
Yet here we have a company right in the heart of Surrey competing in this market. But I thought it was cool that they were in this market and how you only read about it in the news and there it was.
We did a wellness talk about all things posture, stress and wellbeing, then carried out mini assessments and then one of our sports rehab specialists did a Pilates class for the employees out in the garden.
I was watching the class and there was a lot of balance focus. Balance is so important for our day to day, and we often take it for granted.
When I say to you ‘you need to improve your balance’ you may think ‘I need to be able to stand on one leg better’. This could be true, but I want to dive deeper into what balance is and how it plays such an important role in your back.
I try to get balance in the back by balancing the muscles. For example, it is important that you have balance in strength either side of the spine. If you have one side that is overcompensating this can cause rotation and problems in the back, eventually it can cause one side to give in thus causing a back spasm.
It is vital therefore we balance the muscles and don’t overcompensate. Ways that you can cause imbalance between sides are:
- Carrying a child on one hip-this causes a shift in the pelvis and can mean one side is stronger
- Favouring one side for holding a bag or if you do manual work then lifting only with one side
- Sitting cross legged in a chair for prolonged periods of time
How do you regain the balance in muscles?
Single side exercises are brilliant for this, for example doing a single leg glute bridge rather than using both legs just use one leg. It retrains the muscles in the weaker side that they cannot rely on the other side to bolster them.
My Dad suffers with MS and he uses a specialised exercise bike that can measure the amount of force he is putting in to each leg. We can then train his weaker left leg to work harder and try and get the output to 50:50.
It is a good competition to have with him as well, as a Scotsman he is fiercely competitive.
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Does balance help with posture?
A resounding yes!
99.9% of us are front heavy. That means that the front of our bodies is tighter or stronger than our back. Our chest muscles, front shoulders and front neck muscles tend to be tighter due to desk position and smart phone use.
If you can release these off and strengthen the back muscles, then this will improve the balance in posture.
How to strengthen the upper back?
- Upright rows-using a band, you can improve the strength of the mid and lower trapezius muscles. Get a TheraBand and pull apart the band and squeeze the shoulder blades together. Hold this for 5 seconds and then relax. If you do not have a band, you can do this without it, it is more effective with a band though.
- Push up plus-this is not a full push up. You can do this standing up against a wall or on your knees. You do not bend the elbows, it is simply dropping your chest through to the floor without bending the elbows, it will move the shoulder blades through and activate the muscles in the blades. Try 10 reps and 3 sets
Real balance exercises for back pain
Let’s move on to the actual balance exercises we all think of when someone talks about balance and how these help with back pain.
The easiest movement to do to improve your balance is to stand on one foot when you are brushing your teeth. Why?
- It is easy to remember as you brush your teeth twice per day (you should do this)
- It takes no time at all as you are already brushing your teeth
- It stimulates nerve activity in your legs to help your pelvis and spine.
When you are standing on one leg for 30 seconds your ligaments work harder. They have nerve endings in them that create something called proprioception. This is the awareness of your body in space. This means that you are training the ligaments to become more responsive to movement.
This is key, imagine you are walking along, and the pavement suddenly falls away and you get a ‘shock’ into the hip and spine. This is often enough to cause a back spasm and have you laid up for 2 weeks.
With proprioception and balance training, the ligaments in the leg and spine can absorb this shock, withstand the stress and ensure that your back doesn’t risk going into spasm.
What is my favourite balance exercise?
I really enjoy doing single leg marches, standing on the spot.
Stand in a flat space and lift one knee up to your chest, try and hold this for 5 seconds and slowly lower the leg back down. Then repeat on the other side, slow and controlled, if you can do this 5 times on each side without losing your balance, then you are moving into Jedi status.
This helps to control the ligaments through the hips and core. Training these will give more stability to your back.
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If you do know someone who wants more advice, please send them our details. You can send them this assessment as well to diagnose their back pain. It is a great tool to understand where your back pain is coming from, it is free and takes 60 seconds. Click here for assessment
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