Why Great Back Pain Exercises Can Make Your Pain Worse | Chester, NJ Physical Therapy
You've probably searched online for the best exercises for back pain.
Maybe you've even tried a few stretches or strengthening exercises that promised to help relieve your lower back pain.
But instead of feeling better, you ended up in more pain than when you started.
So what went wrong?
The problem may not be the exercise itself. It may be that the exercise isn't right for your body yet.
At AMP Performance Rehab, we see this happen with people who are doing everything they think they're supposed to do to get better.
They're stretching, strengthening, and following back pain exercises they've found online.
But their pain isn't improving.
Here's why that can happen.
Are There Really Bad Exercises for Back Pain?
When it comes to back pain, people are often told to avoid certain movements.
Don't bend forward.
Don't twist.
Don't lift anything heavy.
But these movements aren't automatically bad for your back.
What matters is whether your body is prepared to handle them.
Think about Olympic athletes.
You see gymnasts flipping through the air, weightlifters lifting hundreds of pounds, and athletes landing from incredible heights.
Most people wouldn't be prepared to do those things without risking injury.
But these athletes have spent years training their bodies to handle those demands.
Their bodies have built the strength, control, and ability to handle those movements.
The same idea applies to your back.
An exercise that causes pain today may be something you can do comfortably in the future with the right preparation.
Why Some Back Pain Exercises Make Your Pain Worse
Two people can have lower back pain and need completely different exercises.
One person may have trouble bending forward.
Another may feel pain when standing for long periods.
Someone else may have no trouble with either movement but experience pain when lifting weights.
Even though all three people have back pain, their starting points are different.
That's why following the same exercise routine as someone else doesn't always work.
An exercise that helps one person may make another person's symptoms worse.
It depends on what your body can currently handle, what needs to improve, and how the exercise fits into your recovery.
The Problem With Following Back Pain Exercises Online
There are thousands of videos promising to help relieve back pain.
And some of those exercises can be helpful.
But there's something those videos can't tell you.
Whether that exercise is right for YOUR back pain.
Dr. David Le, one of our physical therapists at AMP, shared an example of a patient who had put together what she believed were some of the best exercises for her back.
She was doing them consistently, hoping they would help her feel better.
But the more she did them, the worse her pain became.
The problem wasn't that she wasn't trying hard enough.
The exercises weren't matched to what her body could handle at that point in her recovery.
That's why finding the right exercises starts with understanding where you are now, not where someone else thinks you should be.
Can You Exercise With Lower Back Pain?
Having back pain doesn't always mean you need to stop exercising.
In many cases, staying active and finding movements your body can tolerate can be an important part of recovery.
But that doesn't mean you should push through every painful exercise.
Let's say your goal is to get back to lifting weights.
You might eventually need to squat, deadlift, bend, and twist while carrying heavier loads.
But that doesn't mean your body is ready for all of those movements today.
You may need to start with a lighter weight, a smaller range of motion, or a different version of an exercise.
As your strength and ability to handle movement improve, you can gradually work toward more challenging exercises.
Something that causes pain today doesn't have to be off-limits forever.
The goal isn't to avoid certain movements for the rest of your life.
It's to build your body's ability to handle them again.
How Do You Know Which Exercises Are Best for Your Back Pain?
Before choosing exercises for lower back pain, it's important to understand what may be contributing to your symptoms and what your body can currently handle.
That means looking beyond where you feel pain.
For example, a strength or movement limitation somewhere else in your body may be affecting how you move and how much work your back has to do.
Without identifying what's contributing to the problem, it's easy to spend weeks doing exercises that aren't addressing what you need.
At AMP Performance Rehab, your Root Cause Assessment looks at how your entire body moves, where you may have strength or mobility limitations, and which activities are causing problems.
That information helps guide a personalized physical therapy plan based on your starting point and the activities you want to get back to.
The Goal of Physical Therapy for Back Pain Is to Help You Do More
If you've been dealing with back pain, the answer isn't always to stop exercising.
And it isn't to push through every painful movement either.
It's about finding exercises your body can handle now and building toward the ones you want to do in the future.
That might mean starting with a modified exercise today so you can eventually return to lifting, running, golfing, or working out without constantly worrying about your back.
The goal isn't to find exercises you'll have to do forever to manage your pain. It's to build a stronger, more capable body so you can get back to doing what you enjoy.
Tired of Guessing Which Exercises Will Help Your Back Pain?
If you've been following back pain exercises online but aren't seeing the results you want, there may be something important you're missing.
At AMP Performance Rehab in Chester, NJ, our Root Cause Assessment helps identify what may be contributing to your back pain, what your body can handle right now, and what needs to improve.
From there, you'll have a personalized plan that meets you where you are and helps you build toward the activities you want to get back to.
Click here to request a Root Cause Assessment and find out what your body needs to move forward with more strength and confidence.
Dr. Monica Moore, PT, DPT
Co-Owner & Physical Therapist
AMP Performance Rehab
Chester, NJ
https://www.ampperformancerehab.com/
Call or text: 862-500-4735
