The Benefits of Physical Fitness in Lower Back Pain
Many of the benefits of physical fitness will also affect your lower back although how these improvements can help lower back pain may not be so obvious to you.
Improving your physical fitness is a key component in the management of lower back pain and recent studies support the view that getting fitter and exercise for back pain can be helpful.
When I talk to people about the benefits of physical fitness and getting a bit fitter (which I do very often!), I often find that most people see fitness as about improving your heart and lung function and they can't always see what that has to do with their back pain. However, it also has a real impact on lots of other things and the following section outlines the real benefits of physical fitness in managing lower back pain.
The Heart
Exercise helps your heart become a stronger and more efficient pump. Your heart becomes stronger which means that with each heart beat more blood is circulated and so the heart does not need to work so hard and your pulse rate reduces. This links closely with the next point.
The Circulation
One of the major benefits of physical fitness is that regular physical activity increases the number and size of the blood vessels in your body which improves the blood supply to all the tissues in the body. This improves the health of your muscles which of course includes your spinal and core muscles.
As an aside you may not realise that smokers are at a greater risk of developing back pain then non-smokers. I was surprised about this until I read about it. Smoking reduces the blood supply to your tissues (which is why smokers often lose legs to amputation) and will cause a reduction in the health of the tissues in your back as well.
Lung Function
This improves with exercise, the lungs become stronger and breathing muscles get fitter which means the lungs can expand more. This improves the amount of oxygen available to the body and can improve the health of the tissues in your back too.
Muscles
As a result of regular exercise muscle cells become better able to release energy. The muscles have improved strength and muscular endurance. You need strong supportive muscles for a healthy spine.
Weight
Exercise can help in the control of weight. Combining a calorie controlled diet with exercise is universally accepted as the way to manage weight problems. There is some evidence of a link between being very overweight and lower back pain.
Ligaments and Joints
These tissues become stronger, more flexible and less prone to injury. Increased blood supply means better nutrition for the tissues and better removal of waste products which helps improve the health and durability.
Bones
Weight bearing exercise is shown to increase bone density and also prevent bone loss as we get older. This can reduce the onset and severity of osteoporosis (this is thinning of the bones, osteoporosis can lead to fractures of the spinal vertebrae)
Protection from Cardiovascular Disease.
Exercise reduces the chance that you will develop high blood pressure, it reduces cholesterol levels, it also improves the bodies ability to respond to insulin which in turn helps reduce weight and blood pressure.
Stress
Another of the benefits of physical fitness is the impact exercise has on stress. Exercise encourages the release of endorphins which increase your sense of well being and can be helpful in reducing pain. There is good evidence that worry and fear of exercise can make the outcome from lower back pain worse.
So you can see there are many benefits of physical fitness which may have a positive effect on your lower back pain.
Before starting any physical fitness programme please go and see your doctor and get checked out first.
5 Components of Physical Fitness
Lower Back Pain Toolkit Home Page
References
Andersen, R., Crespo, C., Bartlett, S., Bathon, J., & Fontaine, K. 2003, "Relationship between body weight gain and significant knee, hip, and back pain in older Americans", Obesity research, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 1159-1162
.
Bener, A., Alwash, R., Gaber, T., & Lovasz, G. 2003, "Obesity and low back pain", Collegium antropologicum, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 95-104.
Lee, C., Kratter, R., Duvoisin, N., Taskin, A., & Schilling, J. 2005, "Cross-sectional view of factors associated with back pain", International archives of occupational and environmental health, vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 319-324.
Corbin & Lindsey 1985, Concepts of Physical Fitness Brown, Iowa.
Chou, R. & Huffman, L. H. 2007, "Nonpharmacologic Therapies for Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Review of the Evidence for an American Pain Society/American College of Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline", Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 147, no. 7, pp. 492-504.
05-Sep-2008
