Originally Posted by hannajo
My chiropractor told me that good abdominal muscles really help the lower back. He also said to stretch the back thigh muscles regularly(is that the hamstring? I can never remember.). According to him, those two things are very much responsible for lots of folks lower back pain and spasms. When these two things are not in good condition, the lower back must constantly compensate, thus causing it to over work and become stiff, painful, and & even to spasm.
Now that I'm writing all of this, I think I need to go do some crunches and stretching...
Your chiropractor is right!! Another great (and very easy, once you get the hang of it) "exercise" to strengthen your core muscles (your abs) is ... well, here's how I explain it to my therapy patients (whose average age is around 80 years old):
You know how when you "suck in" to button a pair of pants? That's your transverse abdominal muscle (TVA). The exercise is this... suck in your TVA and hold it in while singing a little tune or counting to ten or saying something, anything... the thing is you don't want to hold your breath. Tighten the muscle but keep talking/breathing... For fun, I teach my patients the "Mantra method." I have them repeat, " I... I, love... love, my... my, therapist!" Gets a laugh every time...
Do this exercise several times a day... when the commercial comes on... when the phone rings, when you walk past the refrigerator....
You get the picture..