How to Relieve Chronic Back Pain

As today's workforce makes the transition from manufacturing to the non-manufacturing sectors an increasing number of workers find they are working in a very limited environment in which they are required to spend a large majority of the day seated at a desk or in front of a computer, often in the confined and minimal space of an assigned cubical.

Under these conditions the only opportunity for infrequent exercise is found during short coffee and lunch breaks or visits to the restroom.

Doctors tell us that this new work environment is not a healthy one and that new health issues are being reported as a result of work related confinement and the resulting lack of physical activity on the job.

Some of the larger companies have attempted to address this by providing exercise rooms and scheduled exercise periods during the workday. Others have provided walking trails or tracks and encourage workers to take scheduled morning and after breaks to spend twenty minutes walking.

A vast majority of companies that employ a relatively small number of employees, but represent a large percentage of the service industry workforce, cannot afford to provide expensive workout facilities, and many are reluctant to provide scheduled non-working exercise time. Employees in these companies often spend seven or more hours confined to a desk or workstation.

The result of these long hours of confinement to a very limited space is a dramatic increase in the number of workers being treated for severe lower back pain. Doctors tell us that the human spine is not designed for long hours of sitting in one position. To make matters worse many of us when working at a desk or at a computer do not sit up straight, but slump or bend, putting even more stress on the spine. In the absence of exercise this condition (back pain) will only worsen.

In reaction to growing concern with the rapid increase in reported cases of lower back pain the medical profession has developed a simple exercise routine that can be performed during brief breaks within the worker's workstation and is reported to provide total relief from lower back pain in 90% of reported cases.

To gain relief from and prevent confinement related back pain, doctors recommend performing the following routine once for every two hours spent seated at your workstation:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2. Tighten the muscles in your buttocks.
3. Place your hands on your buttocks and stretch backward as far as you comfortably can.
4. Slowly return to an upright position.
5. Repeat ten times attempting to bend slightly farther back with each repetition.

The above routine can be performed in less than three minutes and as a result can be performed multiple times a day without measurable interruption of the work schedule. Many woffice workers incorperate this routine with visits to the restroom or during coffee breaks.

I have personally used this method exercise with great results and total relief of lower back pain.

Try it, you'll like it.