Goodbye backpain!

Artist: Filip_Krstic

Backpain!

Many know the feeling, few do anything about it: back pain. The most common problems occur in the lower back and neck-shoulder area. Every third person suffers from these complaints. Yet they are so easy to combat. We cam tell you how to get rid of your back pain.

Causes

There are several causes that trigger back pain, one too much. The most common triggers are:

Too much sitting

Starting with breakfast, on the way to work and finally at work, then again on the way home and finally still in front of the TV: you sit most of the day. The few steps that are taken are usually just to change your seat. Sitting, especially at a desk or during long car rides, puts an enormous, one-sided strain on the spine, or more precisely on the intervertebral discs. In addition, leaning forward and looking at the computer strains the neck-shoulder muscles.

Artist: Jun

Too little movement

The musculoskeletal system, with its many bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and spine, is the largest system of the human body. Due to our way of life, it is used too little or only for one-sided, monotonous postures. Actually, if you are sedentary, you need a movement balance of at least one hour per day.

Too much mental stress

Stress and pressure at work - all this can not only get on your nerves, drive your blood pressure up, but also tense your muscles. In many cases, this leads to severe pain. For example, in the neck and shoulder muscles, as they are pulled up under tension and pressure.

Strength and stretching

To prevent and relieve back pain, strength training is always given as the most ideal way. A strong musculature, or more precisely a strong back, can best withstand the strain. It is also often claimed that well-toned shoulder and neck muscles prevent some poor postures at the desk. This is only partially true. Clearly, muscles that are weakened or tend to weaken need to be strengthened. But just as important is stretching all muscles that tend to shorten. This is because shortened muscles can also cause back pain. To ensure proper and pain-free movement, attention must be paid to the interaction of the various muscles. That is, strength training alone is not effective in eliminating your back problems. In addition, you need to stretch and loosen all your shortened muscles. This is possible with the following exercises:

Artist: PeopleImages

Strengthening the muscles

Rowing: Rowing exercises bring your shoulders backwards and ensure an upright posture. Here, depending on the position, different parts of the back are trained. The exercises can be done either on the cable pulley or on a machine.
Shoulder circles: The perfect exercise for in between. You can do this at your desk to loosen up your shoulders. You sit upright and start to make big circles backwards with one shoulder. Then it's the other shoulder's turn and finally both shoulders at the same time. Do this for at least one minute. The purpose of this exercise is to improve blood circulation to the neck muscles.
Plank: In the forearm support, the whole trunk is used. In addition, deep-seated muscles are also exercised. Make sure your elbows are under your shoulders and your abdomen is tight. This prevents your back from sagging.
Superman: The lower back is particularly stressed here. In Superman, you lie on your stomach and stretch your arms above your head. Then slowly lift your arms and legs off the floor at the same time. In the top position you hold the position for a short time, then you put your arms and legs back down.