Back pain – Exercises – The most effective exercises against lumbago

Back pain exercises: We show you how to train effectively against your back pain and how to avoid and prevent lumbago through targeted exercises and keep your back muscles loose. – All with the  PATband by FLEXVIT!

Zack, a Sunday can get nasty that quickly. My day for training on my own account. On my home stretch, it shoots me in the back of all things. A pronounced lumbago informs me that my last few months of an overload of coffee, appointments, travel times with long periods of sitting and, last but not least, far too little sleep have been registered and logged as robbing my body.

Corona after-effects, such as the unwillingness to cook healthy meals myself, were certainly an additional aspect. “You have to get through this now,” I think to myself and take the opportunity to check the effectiveness of my training therapy.

I would like to tell you about this test here, in the context of the PATband. 

The result right away: pain-free after 48 hours, without tablets, without physio, but with pain-reducing training measures several times a day, actually every hour.

Figure 1 – Hip Wrap – Back Pain Exercises for Lumbago

Why exercises against lumbago – Nici tells you!

But from the beginning. Anyone who has ever experienced a visit from the “witch” (lumbago or lumbalgia) knows the symptoms. A stabbing pain drives into the back and actually forces everyone to their knees immediately. Movement seems absolutely impossible and yet this is precisely the first measure that helps to rush to the aid of the cramped muscle partners in the lumbar-pelvic region.

There I was, sitting on the park bench, breathing purposefully, careful not to attract attention. What if someone knew me, how embarrassing. I giggled the thought away and first moved my pelvis really painfully carefully with the aim of propelling myself back to standing, pretending that the exercises were absolutely standard. This succeeded after a while with well tensed deep abdominal muscles and deep nasal breathing techniques. In the standing position I went up on my toes, which actually relieves pain, and moved home walking as normally as possible. I didn’t walk directly, but marched around for an hour with various mobilising pauses. This helped really well, so at home, already a bit more mobile, I could take my PAT band and literally wrap myself with it.

Secure PATband now & train effectively against back pain & lumbago!

Treat lumbago: First aid with the PATband

I first wrapped it around the hips and legs only (Fig.1) to avoid massive compression on the lower back. Walking with this wrap forced the leg-spreading and hip-stabilising muscles (abductors) to work. This coercion further relaxed the pain process and, after removing the PATband (5 minutes of moderate work time), ensured that my foot made it all the way to a sitting surface. I used this repetitively to gently work on straight and diagonal upper body forward bending.

Figure 2 – Neck wrap – back pain exercises for lumbago

For the leg muscles, this means that the calf muscles, for example, end just above the knee joint and above that the back of the thigh attaches. But there is a connection between them, through the fasciae. This is why the elastic connective tissue plays such a big role in movements and should always be included, especially in dynamic sports that involve complex movement sequences. Nevertheless, a systematic view of the leg muscles naturally helps in choosing the right training or exercises. The largest muscles in our legs are in the thigh (quadriceps) and calf.

Treat lumbago: Next Steps with the PATband

When this was reasonably successful, I dared to do the compressive wrapping, starting from the neck (see figure 2), crossed over the iliac crest around the legs to the foot. Here, at the latest, you may think that she never had a real lumbago. Believe me, the wrap was a challenge and the movement was met with bitchin’ flashing pain and a lot of cold sweat. The pain raged on until the FLEXVIT© wrap was in place, then it was quite good. Why is that?

Compressive wrap for lumbago

Well, the tension ligaments externally take over a work task that should actually be carried out by the traumatised musculature. Since the tension certainly also triggers a neural stimulus on the reporting (afferent) nerve pathways, the cramp-inducing, protective-tension-like reflexes are somewhat alleviated. As long as the PATband was taut around my body, my pain level was very low.

“Form Follows Function” with the PATband

Mobilisation in all possible directions is thus the absolutely sensible idea to bring the movement system back to its tasks. I said to myself “form follows function” and moved for another 10 minutes with walking, knee lifts, stair climbing (walking to slightly bouncing, forwards, backwards, on all fours…) and different body inclinations (sideways, backwards, forwards, rotating). Even suspended attempts on my wall bars continued to relieve. All accompanied by an inner observation mode. Observing pain, not provoking it.

In my case, it was mainly the large back muscle (M. latissimus dorsi) and the hip flexor muscle (M. iliopsoas) that were severely insulted. Since the back muscle leads up to the upper arm, hanging with abdominal tension should definitely be practised here as well. It really works very well. If you combine it with light knee lifts, the hip flexor muscle also receives a metabolism-promoting benefit.

Figure 3 – Activating Wrap – Back Pain Exercises for Lumbago

After further exercises, which were now well possible without a PAT band, I actually felt quite good two hours after the arrival of the Witch’s Arrow. The back was reasonably mobile, but I performed forward bends carefully and supported. I allowed myself a break and a large glass of magnesium citrate. From then on, as soon as the pain tried to seep through again, I moved with loosening exercises and climbing stairs. A second round of PATband training followed in the evening, then another walk, followed by a hot shower and an early end to the day. The night’s rest was supported by, don’t laugh, an angora kidney belt. The next day I switched to a small well-placed heat patch (activated charcoal). At 28 degrees outside, such a belt does get a bit annoying.

Treating Lumbago – Day Two

Day two started slowly. It took me about five minutes to convince my body to peel itself out of bed. The procedure was similar to that on the park bench the day before. Somewhat erect, the training began with exercises similar to those of the previous evening and renewed walks. The day was again peppered with loosening up and in between I cleaned the windows as smoothly but alertly as possible. Big stretching movements in a leaning position was the idea and it went quite well. Of course, there were breaks in between to relieve the strain.

In the afternoon I had the pain really well under control and could start with light activations. Exercises such as very guided slow standing up and sitting down, lunges and lateral leg raises succeeded flawlessly with the activating wrapping technique (Fig.3). Afterwards, the effort was rewarded with a very pleasant and actually pain-free lightness. The perfect starting position for even more movement school and the beginning of the end for the topic of lumbago.

Lumbago – Not with me

In fact, it only took me until the third day in the morning to recover from this impressively painful trauma. I would like to stress, the only reason I did not go to the doctor was because at no time did I experience any lapses or numbness in my legs or pelvic region. I recommend that anyone with traumatic pain seek medical attention, but would encourage you to quickly break through these pain systems with fine mobilisation and short compressions.

If the pain changes, it can be reduced with movement patterns, especially walking with pre-tensioned deep abdominal muscles (corset tension). The FLEXVIT© PATband or the Multiband supports exactly this tension with the cross-wrap over the lower back and it helps to practice this really important tension. Try it out, if possible without meeting the old witch with her arrow first. It’s a really great and all-round exciting workout.

By the way, if you now feel like doing more exercises or even gaining knowledge about your active body structures, take a look at my new book. “Practical Functional Anatomy – Competence in Health Sports”. You can get it now at FLEXVIT© with content on exactly these topics.

Again, by the way, what I absolutely have to mention: If there is a structural tension, which is the case with lumbago, there can be several causes. Please clarify these.

About the author – Nici Mende

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