Low-Impact Exercises for Back Pain |
Dr. Ronald Tolchin, Medical Director of the Baptist Health Center for Spine Care, says when you row you have to make sure you are strengthening the core at the same time you are contracting the core.
He also explains if you pull the arms back, you will work the arms and chest muscles, but you have to do it correctly with your back straight, and maybe even arched backwards.
Transcript
We have some video show I believe some people rowing and they say that’s really good for your back but I think if you do it incorrectly it’s not good so your thoughts on that doctor right so when you row and a lot of the exercises we do we want to make sure we’re strengthening the core at the same time or contracting the core and you can see in this video here that she is totally sitting straight and then as her back goes down she’s working the abdominal muscles and the back muscles at the same time keeping her legs maintained to maintain her her balance and she’s working just the core muscles there so if you added a rowing machine to that activity it would be great it’s aerobic conditioning so it’s good for the heart it’s good for the lungs and it’s also strengthening the back and as you pull the arms back in like a rowing process you’re going to work the arms and the chest muscles as well here’s an example you have to do it correctly though her back is entirely correct see it’s straight maybe even arch backwards a little bit you don’t want to go forwards on that you want to keep the back neutral neutral spinal mechanics when you do it so form is very important in these exercises you don’t want to hurt yourself and so she is doing it exactly right and we even have some suggestions for some you know low intensity activities because a lot of people maybe may not be runners or do things that are really really in creek you know things like that so low impact is still very good right yes absolutely very good and if you have things like arthritis of the knees or arthritis of the hips or spinal conditions you want to be low impact you don’t want to be jumping around so walking for pleasure gardening and yard work housework I give people prescriptions to do the correct amount of housework really not too much dancing a lot of my elderly patients love to go dancing and I promote that and they do it in a very healthy way and they get a lot of benefit with their partner out of that we prescribed home exercises everyone that leaves the office gets some home exercise to do and I try to promote that on most days of the week golf is a form of exercise we don’t have badminton too much down here in Florida anymore but that’s a great exercise something where you’re running but not really running or sprinting just moving quickly croquet shuffleboard lawn bowling table tennis these are all good ways of low impact activity to build up strength and indoors you