Learn how to relieve lower back pain with these tips Jeff Cavaliere.
How to Fix Lower Back Pain
“Lumbago is by far the most common source of discomfort we face. The irony is that often what we think is rooted in the lower back is actually caused by muscles that aren’t in the back at all. In this video, I’ll show you how the gluteus medius could be the real cause of your back pain and a quick exercise you can do to instantly relieve your discomfort. Once gone, I’ll also show you some additional exercises you can do to make sure your lower back pain never comes back.
“The gluteus medius is sandwiched between the gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus and is located in and around the hip region. The role of the muscle is to abduct your hip or raise your leg sideways while standing or lying on your side and keep your pelvis level every time you take a step. Prolonged sitting during the day as well as uneven weight distribution while standing are two of the most common reasons why this muscle becomes weak and unbalanced.
Weak glutes
“You can quickly test to see if you have the makings of a weak gluteus medius by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and lifting one foot off the ground. First take note of whether or not your opposite hip drops significantly. If so, that would indicate gluteal weakness on that side. You would also repeat with the opposite foot. When doing this, you would also want to see if you had to dramatically shift your weight to one side just to lift that foot off the ground. If you do, it would indicate that you have uneven weight distribution when standing, and it would be especially troublesome when squatting.
Movement Strategy
“To resolve this issue quickly, you will want to lie on the floor with your affected side on top. If your right lower back was bothering you, you would want to lie on your left hip. From there, take your thumb and place it on the most painful area. You should feel this happening just outside the bony prominence of your pelvis. From there, push to hold the trigger point and start flossing down and in front of you, then up and up. Your hip should be extended and then lifted in abduction toward the ceiling (making sure to point your toes down to keep your gluteus medius in focus). Do this about 10 times until you feel the tension in the muscle release.
“Now you can burn off the trigger point spasm by getting into the fully contracted gluteus medius position and holding it for as long as you can. Generally, as this muscle is often very weak, it cannot last more than 30 seconds to a minute. Once you can no longer hold it, you will stand up and you should notice immediate pain relief on that side.
“This is the quick but not permanent fix to this problem. Since the underlying cause is weakness in the gluteus medius, you’ll want to back this up with some lower back exercises that you can do a few times a week. I show you three options for this. The first is the wall hip kick. The second is called the Swinger Bag and can be done with a dog leash if you don’t have a formal dive belt. The last one is actually doing the same move you did for the treatment, but this time as a lower back strengthening exercise.
“Whatever you do, just make sure you’re consistent. You will also see that when you relieve tension in this muscle, your squat performance also improves. Your depth should be increased and any lower back pain you felt while doing the exercise should go away since you will now be able to do them with equal force on each leg.
Video – How to Fix Lower Back Pain
Learn more
How to increase breast size and strength
Best way to train chest for hypertrophy (muscle mass)
Upper Chest Exercises Ranked (Best to Worst)
9 Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises
Back muscles
Back muscles are a collection of different muscles that allow us to move our spine and torso, and they help us maintain posture. Back muscles are divided into different groups based on their location in the body.
The intercostal muscles
The intercostal muscles are a group of muscles that connect the ribs to the sternum and help with breathing. The intercostal muscles are innervated by intercostal nerves, which are part of the sympathetic nervous system. In addition to helping to draw air into your lungs during inspiration, they also help with exhalation by contracting as you exhale.
The external intercostal muscles (also called the deep or innermost intercostals) run vertically between each rib and aid in inspiration. They are usually larger than their inner counterparts, which run horizontally between each rib. Both sets are assisted by other muscles responsible for rotating and stabilizing movement as well as diaphragmatic contraction during breathing.
The intercostal nerves
The intercostal nerves are a collection of sensory fibers that run between adjacent ribs. Nerves are part of the autonomic nervous system and carry pain signals from the chest wall to the spinal cord.
Injuries to these nerves can cause dull, aching pains in the chest and can make it difficult to breathe deeply.
extensor muscles
The back extensor muscles extend the spine and are also called back muscles because they run along the back of the body. These muscles include:
- Trapeze
- shoulder lifter
- Rhomboid major and rhomboid minor
The longest thoracic group (erector spine)
The longissimus thoracis group (erector spinae) is a set of muscles that runs along the back. There are three parts:
- Longissimus dorsi: Located on either side of the spine, this muscle extends from the lower cervical spine to the sacrum and coccyx. Its function is to extend and rotate your upper body.
- Spinalis dorsi: This muscle sits below the longissimus dorsi and runs from your neck to your lower back. Its function is also to lengthen the upper body but also to stabilize it by supporting its weight while leaning forward or backward.
- Iliocostalis lumborum: Also known as the “short head” because it’s shorter than other parts of this group, this muscle starts at two different points on each side (your lower back).
Multifidus or Multifidus spinae (or simply Multifidus)
The multifidi are located in the lumbar spine, sacrum and coccyx. They are responsible for the lateral flexion of the spine. They are innervated by the dorsal branches of the spinal nerves.
Sacrospinal
The sacrospinalis is the deepest muscle in the back. It sits in a sling that wraps around your spine, where it connects to your sacrum (the triangular bone at the bottom of your spine). The sacrospinalis works with other postural muscles to support and stabilize your pelvis, lower back, upper thighs, and tailbone.
Conclusion
In summary, back muscles can be divided into three groups: extensors (which flex and extend the spine), flexors (which flex the spine), and rotators. They are all innervated by different nerves, which deliver sensory information from the skin of the back or neck.
The longissimus thoracis group is a complex muscle made up of several smaller muscles that work together to create movement in different directions depending on what position your body is in at any given time.
Follow these tips to help relieve your back pain.