Why Are Your Lower Back Exercises Causing Even More Pain?

When people suffer from a lower back injury, they are often prescribed various exercises to help strengthen and stabilize the tissues that support a stable spine. But how can patients know if these exercises are working as they were designed to? And should the exercises hurt because muscles is being worked, broken down, and rebuilt? Or is pain in the back when recovering from an injury a reason to reconsider the exercise selection?

The basic answer to these questions is that the exercises should not further contribute to back pain. Instead, movements and programs given to people who have suffered a spinal injury should concentrate on reducing pain, increasing the range of pain-free movement, and helping the person function normally in real life with as little discomfort as possible. A focus on creating soreness by prescribing difficult exercises shows misguidance on the part of the person choosing the exercises.

The main issue comes down to the difference between training for performance and training for health. In performance-based training, the "no pain, no gain" axiom is used to challenge muscles and connective tissues to break down and rebuild in a stronger form. The resulting muscle soreness from such training is an indication that work is being done to challenge the body's ability to deal with the demands being placed on it, and is usually conducive to further muscle growth.

Training for health, though, involves getting a person back to normal everyday functioning without pain. In terms of rehabbing a low back, this involves eliminating the movement disorders that contributed to the injury to begin with, as well as increasing total body and spinal stability. Exercises should not be extremely difficult to perform without pain, and they should not typically lead to soreness or fatigue.

In fact, if chronic soreness is resulting from the exercises, it may be best to choose more basic movements to practice, reduce the compressive loads on the spine, or avoid doing the exercises in the early morning right after getting out of bed. Advanced exercises using a lot of weight or difficult postures should be reserved for people who can do more simple movements without pain and who are ready for more difficult movements to practice.

For people suffering from a lower back injury, it is always important to keep the loads on the back to a reasonable level. This does not mean always a low level, as too low of a load can contribute to muscle atrophy and decrease the stability of the spine. But loads that are too heavy can also lead to exacerbation of the injury. The primary objective to recovering from low back injuries is to reduce or eliminate pain in normal everyday movements.

Unfortunately, many people with a back injury do not understand this important difference between training for performance versus training for health. Athletes train for performance to increase their strength and become better able to handle the demands of their sport. This type of training often involves strain, discomfort, and soreness. But when training for health and the pain-free movement of the lower back, constant pain or soreness when doing exercises should be entirely avoided.