I can remember having lower back pains as far back as my teenage years. In retrospect, these were not exactly pains I guess, but more of a constant ache right in the small of my back and around the sides. At times, though, shooting pains went down my hip and into my leg.

Periodically throughout the years, my back has “gone out”. I’m not sure what this means but I understand it’s effects. It starts out with spasms that increase in frequency and intensity throughout the day. Slowly, because of the pain, I start to bend over a little at a time until by the end of the day; I’m totally hunched over. There’s not much I can do at this point except lay on a flat, hard surface, with a bag of ice on my back and take some pain reliever until my back is back to normal.

Oddly enough, doctors have never found anything particularly wrong with my back. I’m a six-foot tall woman who played a lot of basketball in her day, jumping and landing on hard surfaces. I suspect that these factors have most likely contributed to the problem. But doctors have never diagnosed the problem and they have not given much advice in the way of a treatment either. The only thing doctors have done is recommend a few back exercises that I did consistently, but they did not help in the end at all.

Doctors have also advised that I do sit-ups to strengthen my stomach muscles, but after following their recommendations, the back discomfort continued. After awhile, out of frustration, I simply stopped doing the exercises all together. As a matter of fact, I ended up allowing myself to get in the worse shape of my life.

Therefore, I found myself, at age 38, about 15 pounds over my comfortable weight, unhappy with my appearance and, of course, still having problems with my back. At this point, I decided it was time to join a gym.

I’ve been a member of many gyms on and off over the years so I am familiar with the equipment and the routine of treadmills, Stairmasters, and weight training including back and stomach machines. When I decided to join a gym again, I simply picked up where I had left off and began with the same types of exercises that I had grown accustomed to over the years. But, although I dropped a couple of pounds, my back pain continued.

I decided then to participate in a circuit training class being offered at the gym. The class was intense and it included lots of jump roping, push-ups and sit-ups. There was also a huge emphasis on isometric exercises and strengthening the core muscle groups such as stomach and back muscles. With this new regime, I found myself doing more stomach work than I had ever done in my life. And, as it turned out, some of these exercises worked the exact areas of my back where I was having pain.

No gym machine had ever worked those areas before and, eventually, I started to get muscles in my stomach that I could actually feel. This was a first for me because I have always carried a lot of fat around my stomach. And, low and behold, after about 5 months of work, my back pain was about 90% gone!

I now realize that the stomach work I was doing before joining the class was not nearly enough to strengthen my muscles to a point that they could alleviate stress on my lower back. Additionally, I was not doing the right back and stomach exercises at the right intensity. I found that the theory of strengthening your core muscles to decrease your back pain holds true, but only if you work the right muscles intensely enough to allow them to get really strong. Today I am finally pain free! But, remember, a few sit-ups, three times a week is not going to cut it.

Here are some of the exercises that worked for me:

Isometric Exercise

- muscle-building exercises (or a system of muscle-building exercises) involving muscular contractions against resistance without movement (the muscles contracts but the length of the muscle does not change)

- Exercise performed by the exertion of effort against a resistance that strengthens and tones the muscle without changing the length of the muscle fibers.

Isolated abs

1. Lay on your back.
2. Bend your knees up.
3. Lift your shoulders off the floor and put your arms straight out by your side.
4. Hold this position for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

The Plank

Variations of the plank

1. Lay on your stomach resting on your palms.
2. Push your body off the ground until you are in the standard push-up position.
3. Hold your body at the top for 20-60 seconds.
4. Repeat for 3-5 reps.

side plank

Planks on swiss ball

Push-up plank

Wall squat

Closing thoughts on isometric exercises

When using isometrics, do keep the following in mind for optimal success:

• Maintain a position in any one exercise for between 6 to 8 seconds. The exercise should then be repeated about 5 to 10 times, each time ensuring maximum muscular contraction.

• Isometric exercises are not recommended for those with heart disease or high blood pressure. This is because isometric exercises cause the highest rise in blood pressure.

• Any one isometric exercise only increases muscle strength at one joint angle. To strengthen the other joint positions, we need to repeat corresponding exercises. Isometric exercises must form a part of a complete exercise program and is not recommended on its own for strength training

Causes of back pain

One of the biggest occupational health problems happens to be back and neck pain associated with sitting for long periods of time. Sitting in a slumped position will stretch the ligaments and muscles that extend the back. This weakens the back muscles over time.

Generally, when seated at the desk, ensure that the back is flat against the chair and the feet are comfortably touching the ground. When driving over long distances a similar problem arises. Always ensure that the car seat is adjusted to your specific requirements.

The most important, and easily corrected, preventable cause of back pain is posture. Posture essentially is the position one holds their body against gravity when walking sitting or lying. Correct posture prevents backache and muscular pain while keeping bones and joints in correct alignment so muscle are used properly.

Since one spends a great deal of their time walking and standing it is important to know exactly how to go about this:

• Hold head up straight with chin in and do not tilt head forward, sideways or backward.

• Earlobes should be in line with the middle of ones shoulders.

• Stretch the top of the head toward the ceiling.

• Keep knees and back straight and shoulders up.