Back Self Help: Eating and Exercise

The bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments in your back play a vital role in supporting your whole body. To do this successfully they need the right nutrients and regular exercise to keep them strong and healthy.

Being overweight puts additional strain on your back, especially when the excess weight is around your stomach. Making sure you lose any excess weight and then maintaining your new weight will certainly help. Need help with weight loss?

Calcium is vital for strong bones. Dairy foods, canned sardines and salmon including the small bones, fresh sardines, salmon and mackerel, leafy green vegetables and oranges are good sources of supply. Cooking can leech away some of the mineral so don't over cook.

Calcium deficiency occurs if either too little is eaten and absorbed or too much is lost. Growing children and adolescents, pregnant women, nursing mothers and post-menopausal women can be at risk of calcium deficiency, as can people who consume excessive alcohol or tobacco.

Vitamin D is needed to help the body absorb calcium. This is found in oily fish such as sardines, salmon, and mackerel, and egg yolks but the body makes  90% of its needs directly from sunlight.

Simple self help means making sure you get around 15 – 20 minutes exposure every day, ideally around lunchtime when the sun is strongest. Expose your face and hands without sun protection (or an equivalent area if you use a moisturizer that includes sun protection).

In winter you may need vitamin supplements to make sure you get enough  vitamin D.

Oily fish also contain Omega 3 oils, which help to keep joints supple.

Make sure you eat a minimum 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Eat a well balanced diet with enough carbohydrates to give you the energy you need each day. When your body doesn't get enough carbohydrates direct from food it converts protein to give it energy. This means there is less protein to keep your muscles strong and healthy.

General Self Help Activities and Preventative Exercises

Contrary to many peoples' opinions, movement and exercise are very important when you have back pain. Your body was designed to move, and if you avoid movement to try to avoid pain you can actually make the situation worse.

Sensible self help for your back means moving joints and muscles to keep them flexible and responsive. If you don't do this, when you're ready to start moving again you have to coax them back into normal movement. Far better not to let them get out of the habit in the first place.

But obviously it's not wise to over exercise or extend your movements so far that you aggravate existing back pain. The answer is to take the middle ground: continue with normal tasks, and where this means you meet with pain take it gently and slowly, don't make any sudden movements or hold a position for too long.

Swimming and walking are excellent ways to strengthen your back muscles without straining them. Unlike many other fitness and sports activities these 2 are unlikely to jolt your body at all — as long as you watch where you are walking! These activities should also be encouraged for children, especially walking as a substitute for a family taxi service.

Walking is the most straightforward activity to build into your daily life. If you can't walk to work, walk during your lunch break or take a brief walk before setting off for home. Always choose stairs before escalators and lifts. Even using stairs for one or two floors will make a difference, and you can build up to walking up more flights if you need to. At home, walk to the post box, local shop, restaurant or pub whenever you can.

Yoga and pilates can help improve the strength and flexibility of your back muscles. Find a local class so you can learn the techniques properly. Don't worry about being a beginner or how you'll look: classes run by local colleges cater for all ages and abilities, and a qualified teacher will make sure you stay within your capabilities and you don't try to do any exercises that would aggravate your back problems.

The Alexander Technique helps you to learn how to stand and walk properly. Learning this technique is likely to be more expensive than a yoga or pilates class, but the benefits you gain could outweigh the cost.

Warm-up Exercises For Your Back

The exercises below are recommended by the British National Health Service as suitable for people experiencing back pain. However if your back pain is severe, you haven't done any exercise recently, or you have another medical condition — including pregnancy, you should always discuss your plans with your doctor. It could be that for your particular condition certain exercises are more or less appropriate.

The author can not be held responsible for any injuries experienced as a result of following these exercises.

The 3 warm-up exercises below are for beginners. You should aim to increase each to 10 repetitions as your muscles strengthen. You can also use them before doing jobs around the house that are going to involve pushing, pulling, lifting or stretching:

Leg Raises — lying flat on the floor, lift your right heel slightly and then lower it. Do this 5 times then repeat for your left heel. Don't try to lift too far, you only need to raise your leg a little way above the floor  

Bottom Lifts — lying on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Tighten your stomach muscles then lift your bottom off the floor while keeping your back straight. Repeat 5 times. Aim for just clearing the floor at first, rather than trying to lift any higher. As you do the exercise more you will find your strengthened muscles will mean you can lift higher without discomfort

Wall Slides — standing with your back against a wall, your feet should be shoulder width apart. Slowly slide down the wall, bending your knees. Go as far as you can in comfort (aim to reach a point where your knees are bent at 90 degrees eventually), hold for a count of 5, then slowly slide back up again. Repeat 5 times

Here are some further exercises for you to try:

Heel Slides — lying on your back your right leg straight and your left leg bent with your foot on the floor. Slide your left foot along the floor towards your bottom, taking it as far as it will comfortably go, then slide it back to the starting position again. Repeat 10 times. Change legs and repeat 10 times

Straight Leg Raises — lying on your back with your right leg straight and your left leg bent with your foot on the floor. Pull in your stomach muscles, breathe normally and slowly raise your right leg off the floor. Hold for a count of 5 then slowly lower the leg back to the floor. Repeat 10 times then change legs. Aim to raise your leg between 6 and 12 inches. If you aren't able to hold for a count of 5 straight away, work up to this

Heel Raises — stand with your weight evenly balanced on both feet. Slowly push up onto your toes, then lower down again. Repeat 10 times. You may want to use a wall to balance against if you are unsteady on your feet.

Once you are experiencing the benefits of these exercises you can move on to some more advanced movements to strengthen your back muscles even further:

Knee Lifts — lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Raise your knees towards your chest. Once you have gone as far as you can, place your hands under your knees and gently pull them a little further towards your chest. Keep your head and neck on the floor. Remove your hands and gently lower your legs back down to the floor, keeping them bent. Repeat 5 times

this exercise will help decrease strain on your back and should be repeated several times a day if possible

Back Leg Swing — standing behind a chair, holding onto the back for support. Keeping your knee straight, lift your right leg back and up, then slowly bring it back down to the floor. Repeat 5 times for each leg    

this exercise will help strengthen hip and back muscles

Full Leg Raises — lying on the floor with both legs straight. Keeping it straight, slowly lift your right leg as far as you can comfortably go, and hold for a count of 10. Slowly lower your leg to the floor. Repeat 5 times for each leg

this exercise strengthens stomach and hip muscles

Reverse Full Leg Raises — lying on your stomach with your arms at your sides and your legs straight. Tighten the muscles in your right leg and raise it slowly off the floor, keeping it straight. Hold for a count of 10 then slowly lower your leg to the floor. Repeat 5 times for each leg. Be careful not to arch your back and to keep your legs straight. You may find you can't raise your legs very far at first, but this will improve as you exercise more regularly

this exercise strengthens your back and hip muscles

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