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Maintaining a Healthy Back with Exercise and Rest

It doesn't take much time to improve the strength and flexibility of your back. In just 10 minutes a day, you can perform a few exercises, which can prevent a lifetime of low back pain!

This exercise strengthens your stomach muscles:

  • Lie on your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
  • Slowly raise your head and shoulders off the floor, keeping your hands across your chest.
  • Work up to 30 repetitions.

    • This exercise strengthens your low back:
  • Lie on your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
  • With arms lying at your sides, tighten stomach muscles, squeeze buttocks, and slowly raise your hips into the air.
  • Hold for 5 seconds and and then slowly bring the buttocks back to the floor.
  • Repeat 20 times.

    • This strengthens your back and leg muscles:

  • Stand with your back against a wall and your feet slightly apart.
  • Slide into a half-sit.
  • Hold as long as you can; slide back up.
  • Repeat 5 times.

    • Aerobic Exercise

    Aerobic exercise also stretches and strengthens the muscles that support your low back, which combined with healthy eating can also help you maintain your ideal weight. If you're overweight, the extra pounds add to the strain on your low back. Aerobic exercise like walking, can help you lose weight.

    Proper Rest

    The best position for resting the back muscles is lying on your back on your living room floor with a pillow under your knees and a rolled up towel under your neck. You can also lie on your side in the fetal position— bend the knees to reduce strain on the low back and put a pillow between your knees, and under your head and neck to keep them level.