Caring for your back: postures and exercises to prevent pain

Back pain can arise following a bad effort or movement, but it is more common that it develops little by little, day by day, with the repetition of an inadequate posture in front of the computer, when watching television or carrying purses, bags and incorrectly shaped or heavy backpacks.

But in general, back pain originates far from it: it can start in a wrong position of the soles of the feet, in the hyperextension of the knees, the wrong placement of the pelvic floor or immobility of the rib cage, among others. factors.

That is why caring for the back involves not only regular exercise but also a change in habits, a greater awareness of the body, whether it is in motion or not, in relation to the environment.

Practices like yoga can be very helpful in preventing back pain. With conscious information regarding movement coming from the nervous system, the brain properly reorders and organizes that movement. In this way, the back is freed from pain in the dorsal, cervical and lumbar areas.

However, it is bad habits that lead us to suffer from back pain.

We spend a third of our lives in bed. If we do not rest well, the muscles lose flexibility and the probability of pain increases. It is important to be able to invest in a quality mattress for every need.

From the moment we get up we can start exercising the back to benefit it

From the moment we get up we can start exercising the back to benefit it. When you get out of bed, it is important to stretch out lying down, stretch, and gradually try to shift your weight to one side of your body and, from there, sit up in bed with your feet in your slippers or on the rug.

Once seated, you have to relax the trunk, leaning on the thighs, and stand up once more on the sit bones, feeling how the belly accompanies the lower back and the trunk progressively aligns itself.

For some time now, cooking has become the hobby of many, and if some precautions are not taken into account, this task can hurt your back. If you are more than 1.75 meters tall, you should try to adapt the kitchen furniture, otherwise the dorsal area may suffer.

WALK, LOAD AND DRIVE

As for carrying the bag, it is best to do it in the hand without it hanging from the wrist, slightly bending the elbow so that the shoulder blades are not loaded, and slightly move the load following the swing of the arm. The ideal is to change her arm as much as possible.

If you have a backpack, you have to put it on both shoulders, whether it goes on your back or on your chest. The ideal is to have your hands free, so that they swing to the rhythm of the walk, which is determined by the feet, continues through the hips, continues through the back and is released in the arms. This will save tension in the upper back.

Another routine action that we perform without thinking is climbing stairs. To do this and not harm your back, you have to try to place your coccyx towards your thighs to release your lower back and sacrum, tighten your abdominals towards your back and feel a thread running from the ground through your body and, through your head, go to heaven.

Carrying a backpack with too much weight and poorly distributed can harm the spine

To go down stairs, it is better to place the foot on the ground from the tip, then settling the heel, yielding with the legs, slightly bending the knees. In this way it will be lowered lighter, faster and with less effort.

Driving a vehicle can also be done in such a way that the back does not suffer. The most important rule is: following two hours of driving you should take a break, get out of the car and walk around a bit. If you are in a rest area, it is best not to sit down and have a coffee, but to move your body.

As far as possible, while driving, you have to change the way you sit and the position of your legs.

The ideal seat allows a straight back, it does not require thigh strength on the seat to reach the pedals. You should stick your back to it.

At traffic lights, it is good to massage the cervicals by taking them with both hands and sliding them around the neck and back of the neck until the arms drop to the side of the body, relaxed.

IN THE OFFICE

Any position that is adopted when sitting, if it is maintained too long, will lead to a stoppage of the fluids that nourish the intervertebral discs and in the long run can cause pain in any part of the spine.

The best way to sit, which is with a straight back, should not last more than an hour. After that time, you have to change position, drop your pelvis, lean forward, pick up one leg folded on the chair and then the other. Breathe deeply from time to time to relax the body.

Practices like yoga can be very helpful in preventing back pain

The back of the chair should reach below the shoulder blades, with a slight inclination that supports the lower back. The seat should be adjustable and with a rounded outer edge to avoid pressure on the thighs. The chair should have armrests to allow the release of the back.

Even if the center of the computer screen is lower than your gaze and your arms form a relaxed 90º angle to the desk, it’s what’s happening on the screen that matters most. You must not allow yourself to read the information by moving your head too far forward, straining your eyes and generating tension in the arm and hand that moves the mouse.

Some exercises to stretch your back are as follows: lie face up on the floor and interlock your legs with your hands at the level of your shins. You have to listen to the breath and when inhaling let the legs move away from the body a few millimeters and when exhaling draw them towards the body; in the pause until you breathe once more, rest.

Then, on your knees, sit on your calves and rest your torso on your thighs and your forehead on the floor. Listen to your breathing, feel the contact of the body with the ground and perceive the five senses.

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