Lower back pain is so common that up to 80% of people will have a bout at some point in life. However, for millions of people, chronic back pain becomes debilitating. In fact, back pain is the number one cause of disability worldwide. When lower backache begins, exercise may be the last thing on your mind, but here are a few things to keep in mind.

Lower Back Pain Research

Researchers took data from 36 different studies. As a result, the situations of more than 158,000 people were considered in this massive undertaking. What did it reveal?

• An active lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic pain – The study showed that patients who had a highly active lifestyle had a 16% lower risk of developing chronic pain.
• Even moderate activity helps – Even being moderately active still reduced the risk of chronic pain by 14%, so don’t think you need to be a CrossFit junkie to avoid future disability. Two days a week of less than an hour of activity may be all that is needed.
• Exercise isn’t for acute pain – Patients with injuries that caused acute pain requiring hospitalization did not improve faster whether active or not.  
• Low impact exercise is the starting point – Don’t jump straight into an intense workout routine if you suffer from backache. Taking a walk every day or going for a swim is a great place to start.
• Avoid twisting exercises – If you already have back pain, golf, tennis, and other sports that involve twisting are not the best options.

Supplementing Exercise with Proper Cervical Alignment

Besides just getting the right kind and amount of exercise, there is another natural way to cope with backache – upper cervical chiropractic care. When the neck is out of alignment, the entire spine suffers. This is because changes take place in the structures of the back as the body attempts to keep the head properly balanced. Wherever the biggest changes occur, you feel the worst pain. This is usually in the lower back.

Gentle and precise upper cervical adjustments can help the rest of the spine to recover. To learn more, contact an upper cervical chiropractor near you. And don’t forget to ask for suggestions on exercises that can help with your pain.

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