A few years back I herniated my disc while training for an Olympic weightlifting competition. However despite all my knowledge as a personal trainer and performance coach, I decided to push through it and try and compete. That was a TERRIBLE idea…
Over the last few years I’ve gone to many physical therapists, masseuses, chiropractors, performance coaches, and a lot of trial and errors on my part. With all the information that I’ve gain, the simplest advice I can give anyone dealing with a lower back injury is to always listen to your body. If the exercise hurts your lower back, it’s probably best to build up to it, work on better positioning, or simply avoid it.
With that said, let’s jump to it. Aside from tissue manipulation, alignment, and better positioning, I’ve found these 2 exercises to be VERY effective for my journey back to competing in Olympic weightlifting and reducing my everyday back pain.
Isometric Back Extension
The isometric back extension is a great auxiliary exercise for many athletes and general fitness enthusiasts. But it’s even more beneficial for those that are dealing with back pain. For some, the back pain is attributed to weak back extensor endurance= your back extensors can’t hold a position for a period of time.
So what can we do to strengthen your back extensor endurance? You guessed it! Start adding in the isometric back extension but make sure you start off slowly and then build up.
Depending on the individuals strength and conditioning, you can do something along these line:
- Week 1: Day 1 and Day 2: Isometric Back Extension 2x20sec.
- Week 2: Day 1 and Day 2: Isometric Back Extension 2x25sec.
- Week 3: Day 1: 3x20sec Day 2: 2x25sec
- Week 4: Day 1: 3x30sec Day 2: 3x20sec
And so on until you can hit for 1 minute. You can clearly take bigger jumps, just go by how you’re feeling, and make sure to go slow at first. Once you’ve surpassed the 1minute marker you can start to add weight and variation hand positioning to make the movement more challenging.
McKenzie Press Up
The “McKenzie Press Up” is part of the McKenzie method that is a comprehensive method of care used by physical therapists world wide.
This method was developed by New Zealand physical therapist Robin McKenzie in the late 1950’s, it is one of the popular exercise for many to use when dealing with lower back pain.
In fact Mbada, et al showed that the combination of the “McKenzie Press Up” and static back extensor endurance (ex: isometric back extension) led to “significantly higher positive effects” (1).
Keep in mind that just because this worked for me, some of our clients, and that the research showed it was beneficial for others too, doesn’t mean that this will automatically work for you. There’s a lot of variables that come into play. My word of advice is to make sure that you start slow and be sure that you’re physical therapist, personal trainer, and/or orthopedic surgeon gave you okayed you to do these exercises.
Clinical Study Reference:
1) Mbada, et al “Rehabilitation of Back Extensor Muscles’ Inhibition in Patients with Long-Term Mechanical Low-Back Pain”.
Train smart,
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