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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What exercises should I keep doing to keep my back strong and healthy?

    Related Topics
    Back & Neck Pain Fitness and Sports Medicine Pain
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    Tim Shackleford

    Physiotherapist

    At Back in Motion Campbelltown we want to help you find long-term solutions to your problems. We'll assess your problem for free, so it costs … View Profile

    That really depends on your posture. Some people have completely different exercises to others. However, the rule of thumb is that movement helps to keep our bodies healthy. It helps with the nutrition of your joints and we’re designed to be mobile creatures. So general movement is the most important thing. There are more specific exercises if you have particular issues and they would need to be addressed by a professional.

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    Dr Bogdan Ilijasevic

    Chiropractor

    Bogdan Ilijasevic, Bobby, is a Chiropractor practising in Sydney's CBD. He has developed a keen interest in dealing with a wide array of conditions ranging … View Profile

    I think that the first question we need to ask is, what is a strong and healthy spine? One which is simply pain free or one that allows the individual to continue with all their activities of daily life and perform at their optimum long term?

    We know that there are 4 components that make up a healthy spine they are 1. Healthy alignment/posture 2. Functional stability 3.Functional mobility 4. Sensorimotor function . What this basically means is that a healthy spine must have the flexibility to move while maintaining a degree of controlled stability and healthy alignment of joints to co-ordinate the movement.
    For us to achieve this all of our spinal joints must firstly be flexible/moveable while at the same time our deep intrinsic ‘core’ muscles must be trained to stabilise the movement

    A registered Chiropractor can help you assess the health of your spine and design a long term management plan.

    Hope this helps,
    Bogdan Ilijasevic
    Chiropractor

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    Dr Tegan Swane

    Osteopath

    Today, most people’s nature of work is that we are doing everything in front of us: Sitting at a desk for a long period, typing on the computer, driving, and that kind of thing. For this reason, the muscles in the front of the body do tend to develop a lot more than the muscles in the back of the body and can often lead to forward shoulders and a round thoracic spine. The first exercise that I recommend is rhomboid strengthening, the musclews between your shoulder blades. To do this, keep the shoulders down and squeeze the shoulder blades back behind you. You can do this sitting, standing, walking, really anytime.

    Another good exercise to strengthen the back muscles is lying face down and straighten the arms above your head, and have the legs out straight. Raise one leg up off the ground and the opposite arm up off the ground, and then repeat on the other side. Repeat 10 times on each side.

    To stretch out the back; lie on your back and roll your knees to one side and twist the head to look over the other side. The one important thing to do with this stretch is keep the shoulders on the ground. You are better off not rolling the knees as far and keeping the shoulders on the ground.

    Lie on your back, bend the knees up so that the feet are on the ground, and gently rock the knees side-to-side. For most people, this is particularly good to do first thing in the morning if you find your back is stiff and achy in the mornings, because it gets everything moving before you then stand up and put pressure through the back.

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    Dr Nicholas Miller

    Chiropractor

    Special interest include; Wellnes,nutrition, physical exercise, headaches and sports injuries. My aim is to improve the wellness and health of all my clients. View Profile

    Hi 

    As mentioned above, although they are general exercises which anyone would benefit from, a tailored program is the best. 

    Before starting any program or exercises you need to determine what your requirements are physically (physical activity dependent) and what you are trying to achieve. Obviously if you partake in sport your requirements and needs are different to someone who doesn't.

    To maintain a health back it requires both flexibility and stability, combined with a well function sensoneural control. The perfect program would consists and work all areas equally.

    best advice would be to see healthcare practitioner such as physiotherapist,exercise physiologist or chiropractor. They wil be able able to asses you and create a plan for you. 


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    Sandra McFaul

    Physiotherapist

    Do you suffer from chronic lower back pain or neck pain? Based in SYDNEY, Sandra is 1 of ONLY 15 Physiotherapists in Australia with ADVANCED … View Profile

    The basic rules are
    1.  sit tall and avoid slouching
    2.  extension/bending or arching back is good because generally we do some much bending and stooping during the day. 
    3.  Keep acitve and fit - do sometthing that you enjoy and that way you will keep doing it

    Hope this helps to point you in the right direction.

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