7 Great Exercises To Build A Healthy Spine & Relieve Sciatica By Joe Martino for Natural Blaze
In our current age of excessive sitting and sedentary lifestyles, back pain is an incredibly common problem — one that I experience myself quite a bit when I don’t take the necessary steps to keep my body loose.
About 10 years ago I was digging a pond in my backyard. The project involved an incredible about of digging, lifting, and moving of over 1000 lbs of rock, and I managed to push hundreds of pounds of rock at a time in my wheelbarrow, day in and day out, from my front driveway, down the hill, to my backyard.
You can imagine the effect this had on my back.
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I ended up in physio for several months trying to repair the damage I had done; between all the excessive lifting and failing to properly rest in between, I had really done a number on my back. The worst part? My back never fully healed, even after all my appointments.
I was left with what appeared to be chronic back pain and it never really went away. My back would feel tired and fragile while I stood, my core was incredibly weak, and it became completely normal to live with that dull ache sitting in my lower back at all times.
Finally, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I knew my body best and wanted to see what would happen if I tried really listening to what it was telling me. So I started stretching and strengthening my back every day using a series of exercises that I thought would work to solve my specific issue.
Sure enough, after just 3 weeks, my back was stronger and looser, and the pain was gone.
I did simple things, like multiple sets of body weight squats, and created a morning stretch routine that kept my entire body loose. These included did many of the stretches you see below. Throw in a foam roller to the daily routine and things can turn themselves around very quickly.
For some it may take more than this, perhaps even emotional work, but it can never hurt to add movement and stretching to your daily routine.
