ShareThisTry two week stretching routine for lower back pain
Completed
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For two weeks each evening I'll try the 4-minute Lower Back Tension stretching series from the book "Stretching" by Bob Anderson. The goal is to offset the back pain I experience from mountain biking. I've used my Alexander Technique work to get rid of almost 100% of non-bike-related pain, but biking is still a problem. Here's the routine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewcornell/4723689547/ and here's the book http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0936070463?ie=UTF8&tag=masidbl-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0936070463 |
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Test: After two weeks do I feel less overall pain. I'll continue to ride the same amount (2-3 times per week) and with the same intensity. |
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I'll give it two weeks. |
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Relaxing mentally during the stretch. Use it as a routine for night-time (might help sleep). Enjoy the experience of watching my the muscles change as I stretch them. |
Comments & Observations
Matthew Cornell Went through them one by one to learn them - they're straightforward - and found I feel less pain and more relaxed already.
Jun 22, 2010
Matthew Cornell Wow - I felt /really good this morning when I woke up. Relatively little pain at all. It's hard to believe, actually, so I'm curious to see whether this continues in future days.
Jun 23, 2010
Matthew Cornell Did a typical strenuous mtb ride tonight, so I'm curious to see how the stretching impacts.
Jun 23, 2010
Matthew Cornell This time it didn't seem so dramatic after I finished, and again this morning. But I'll monitor during the day. Guilty confession: I did the routine twice last night and once again this morning. Bad science, and straightforward "if a little is good, a lot is better" thinking, but what the heck. :-)
Jun 24, 2010
Matthew Cornell Still helping - feels significantly better. It's surprising how much low-level pain I had adapted to.
Jun 25, 2010
Brock Tice Glad to see it's helping! This seems like the kind of thing I have difficulty with -- where the payoff isn't so obvious right away. Had a similar problem when I took up running again too quickly, and my I-T band would get irritated. Had to remember to stretch it properly.
Jun 25, 2010
Dan Owen Matt, I have a long history of lower back pain, going back at least to an injury I suffered when I was about 20. At various times it has been completely and literally immobilizing. A few years I was diagnosed (I now think misdiagnosed) with a herniated disc. I've treated flare-ups with chiropractic treatments with great, consistent results -- usually 2-3 treatments and I'm good as new. All chiropractors I've seen have told me that I won't know the exact cause until I get an MRI of my lower back, but because of the out-of-pocket expense and reading I've done that indicates that an MRI is unlikely to provide a definitive diagnosis, I've never gotten an MRI. If a $300 MRI were available to me (as in Japan), I'd probably do it. However, during my last, snow-shoveling-related flare-up, I saw a different chiropractor who, after giving me an adjustment, sat me down and said this: "Your back is fine. Your problem is that your hamstring and hip muscles are extremely tight. You need to stretch these muscles." He has proven to be absolutely right. In the 2 years since, I've been able to prevent and relieve pain through hamstring and inner hip stretches. There are about six or seven yoga postures I do. Having said that, I know from talking to a million friends who have lower back pain that everyone's is different, but experimentation has proven effective for me: trying and discarding various treatments seems to have provided me with the solution. [Nonetheless, the best thing I've done for my back in the last year is buy a snowblower!]
Jun 26, 2010
Matthew Cornell A couple of things I've observed:
o The benefit continues, and it's improved my outlook.
o I'm enjoying the subtle sensation of muscles slowly and gently stretching. I have experience with this from my yoga days.
o I look forward to the routine because it's about the only time I've created for relaxation. Focusing on the stretching with a purpose is a win-win.
Jun 26, 2010
Matthew Cornell Brock: I think I didn't quite get your point. In my case the benefit was immediate, which, as an essentially irrational human (who knows it), makes it easier than the category you mention. For me, diet is slow like this.
Jun 26, 2010
Matthew Cornell Thanks, Dan, for your story. While I'm not a fan of chiropractors, yours sounds exceptional. Through the work I did with an Alexander Technique teacher, along with an helpful book, I came to a similar conclusion as yours: My back is fine; it's a usage problem. The precipitating events - snow shoveling is a classic - are a symptom of chronically-inflamed muscles that are in that state due to "user error." Because of this, experimentation is important, as you point out, but unless people widen their model of how their bodies work, the experiments might be too focused on something that isn't the cause. I lump most spinal misalignment diagnoses in this category. Good insight about experimenting - thanks for that.
Jun 26, 2010
Matthew Cornell Last night felt like this wasn't helping. I rode Sun am as usual, but Sat am I did four hours working under a very tight crawlspace, so who knows? Did the routine this am, and it helped. At this point I've convinced that this helps overall, and will continue it indefinitely in some form. I'll keep the experiment going for a while to see how things change.
Jun 28, 2010
Matthew Cornell OK, feeling much better after a morning run-through. it's definitely helping
Jun 28, 2010
Matthew Cornell I continue to do this, and I've decided there's value in sticking to it as-is. The next level up from that is working with a professional (sports medicine or massage?) who can help create a specific targeted routine for my body. For now I'll call the experiment complete.
Jul 07, 2010