Workouts with a bad back

chargrove1990

I injured my back a couple years ago, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think I messed up my sciatica. It hurt for a good 6 months or so and then it went away, but every now and then I will do something to pull it back out. I haven't been running or doing any exercises that would be stressful to my back. What type of exercises or workouts do you guys recommend? I don't live any where near a gym, and I'm not comfortable with going running or walking in the neighborhood I'm in. (It's pretty ghetto). Thanks.

disneygirl626

I injured my back and here are a few things my physical therapist had me doing:

*crunches
*bridges
*squats (with good form)
*leg lifts
*side leg lifts
*diagonal crunches
*planks

Please note that my workouts were designed and supervised by a physical therapist. If doing any of these exercises causes unusual pain in your back dial it back. One important thing I learned in all of this is that the most important thing to do to protect your back from re-injury is to strengthen your core.

majoki

You don't mess up your sciatica - that's the name for the pain you get when there's pressure on your sciatic nerve... it can have many causes and many symptoms. Everything Disneygirl listed is often used for back issues (it's all about strengthening your core and using your abs to support every exercise that you do). If anything starts to hurt : stop! You're potentially moving in a way that's putting pressure on the nerves running down your spine and it may mean you're making a problem worse (such as pushing a bulging disc out even further or causing irritation and inflammation around the nerve that will leave you in long term pain til the inflammation stops) ).

majoki

O, just remembered, #1 exercise that I had to do Post - back sugery: Walking!

juliacatherine1

I sprained my back about 2 years ago and the doctor I saw when it happened, didn't prescribe physical therapy or mention anything about it AT ALL. So I have had a really long and strenuous journey with that. Most recently I found out my lower back has alot of arthritis going on. So I did a few months of physical therapy and I learned alot. Most important things.

Keep your core strong.
Keep your hip flexors and hamstrings stretched and loose.
If it hurts your back, don't do it. Try another workout to work the same muscles. (no pain no gain doesn't apply)
Get a stability ball, and do squats on the wall with it. It helps you keep proper form.

chargrove1990

I do know that sometimes if I don't bend down properly or if I twist a wrong way, sometimes it will start hurting. I just remember I wanted to take my dog for a walk, and I didn't even make it past the street light that was literally around the corner from my house because it hurt to walk. I have no idea what's wrong with it.

juliacatherine1

You should really see a doctor to rule out anything serious. Keep in mind, the longer you wait to rehab it, the longer it will take to rehab. My injury would have normally taken 6 weeks to rehab, but it got so bad my spine was actually leaning toward one side from my body reacting to the pain. So recovered has been 5 months and im just starting to make progress where i feel like my body is strong enough to do a true work out.

fatboyruss

This will sound like a boring response from me, but try to get a trainer with qualifications in exercise physiology, or go and see an exercise physiologist. They're great at both working around these sorts of injuries, along with getting a proper remedial set of exercises to deal with the injury (my PT is trained in this and works around lots of my annoying injuries like muscle tears & tennis elbow of which I've had quite a few last year(self inflicted!) - guess I'm getting older but no wiser)