Abdominal Bracing Exercise Video

Comments

[Mike Bagshaw]

I am a novice cyclist and have experienced some back issues this spring as I began cycling. I found Dr. Magnum’s video called "cycling or biking pain free" to be very informative and helpful. I have enjoyed your site and look forward to further video’s and articles.

Mike

[Bryan]

I have lower back problems probably originating from various conditions such as slouching while sitting or standing, sitting for long periods of time (due to work) and an anterior pelvic tilt from being overweight. I found out about a similar method to back bracing online with yoga where the abdominals are brought in towards the spine similar the back bracing exercise. I discovered that when I apply it when bending to pick something up, sure enough it reduces my lower back pain as I am bracing. What I would like to know is what other exercises can I do to complement back bracing? Right now, I go to the gym and along with cardio, I do multi-joint/compound exercises (bench press, leg press, squat, and deadlift) in a effort to achieve a strong, toned, and healthy body. Unfortunately the squat, deadlift, and leg press have all proven to exacerbate the pain in my lower back. What replacement weightlifting exercises can I do to give the same benefits as those problematic lifts (squat, deadlift, leg press)? The benefits I speak of are, strength gain, muscle gain, increase in metabolism, and fat loss (when the exercises are done frequent enough and intense enough to raise heart rate to cardio and fat loss levels.) Do you have any recommendations?

[The Back Exercise Doctor]

Bryan: I appreciate your concerns about what other exercises make sense in addition to some of the back-specific exercises recommended on this site.

For a person with a history of low back pain, I generally recommend McGill's "big three" exercises (curl-up, side bridge, supine bridge, +/- a few others depending on the specifics of their issue). In addition, I think interval training or cross-fit training is a great way to get strength gains and aerobic exercise.

If you are looking for some specifics, I like Mike Boyle a lot who is an expert in the field of exercise science. Here is a link to a video from Mike Boyle on Youtube on interval training: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7roMQVqUFM&feature=related

Also on Youtube you can find a lot of cross fit exercise programs that would be worth considering. You can choose a series of exercises that will not flare back symptoms and still give you a good work-up.

Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have more question or comments.