Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Back with Physiotherapy
Maintaining a healthy back is essential for overall health and well-being. After all, your spine supports your entire body and enables you to perform all the movements you do in a day! A healthy back and spine help prevent pain, allow you to perform daily tasks with ease, and minimize your injury risk.
But how do you go about maintaining a healthy back? Physiotherapy at Stonegate Physiotherapy and Massage Clinic is certainly an essential part of the process. Our physiotherapists use specific exercises and treatments to strengthen your back muscles, improve mobility, and alleviate pain. We can also educate you on proper posture and body mechanics to prevent future injuries.
However, you can also do some simple things on your own to help keep your back healthy. Today, we want to share our physiotherapists’ top five tips for good back health. Keep reading to learn more!
Five Essential Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Back
1. Get Plenty of Exercise
- Keeping your back healthy starts with regular exercise. Simple activities like walking and weightlifting strengthen your back, core, and leg muscles, which help to ensure good spinal function. We can tailor a program that fits your needs, interests, and abilities.
2. Avoid Prolonged Sitting
- It’s no secret that a sedentary lifestyle has a negative health impact, and your back is no exception. Sitting for long periods puts undue pressure on your lower spine, contributing to back pain and an increased injury risk. Take frequent breaks to stand, stretch, and walk around.
3. Target Your Core
- A strong core supports your spine and reduces the risk of back pain. Incorporate effective core-strengthening exercises like planks or dead bugs into your exercise routine. Not sure what to do? Our physiotherapists can provide plenty of guidance!
4. Practice Good Posture
- Good posture is essential for a healthy back, but many people don’t understand what “good posture” really means. You might be surprised to learn it’s not actually about standing up straight! Instead, you want to learn to recognize when your spine is in proper alignment, no matter what you’re doing. Our team can walk you through it.
5. Use Proper Lifting Technique
- Need to lift something heavy? Make sure you do so properly–by bracing your core, keeping objects close to your body, and lifting with your legs. Many back injuries, like muscle strains, stem from incorrect lifting techniques. Our physiotherapists can assess your lifting technique and make adjustments as needed.
Plus One Healthy Back Tip for Good Measure: Visit a Physiotherapist!
If you’re serious about maintaining a healthy back, schedule an appointment with the team at Stonegate Physiotherapy and Massage Clinic as soon as you experience issues. Our dedicated physiotherapists will learn more about your specific needs and concerns and develop a personalized plan to keep your back healthy.
We can show you how to implement the above tips into your daily life and help you resolve any injuries or manage any painful conditions that might be preventing you from improving your back health. We offer several drug-free options for managing back pain, including the following:
- Manual therapy techniques, such as spinal mobilizations or soft tissue manipulation, to help reduce pain, improve mobility, and facilitate your body’s healing processes
- Mobility work to help you move more easily
- Targeted strengthening exercises to improve function in your core, hip, and lower body
- Postural and biomechanical assessments to pinpoint areas of improvement
Maintaining Back Health is Just a Clinic Visit Away!
No matter your needs, the Airdrie, AB-based team at Stonegate Physiotherapy and Massage Clinic is here to help you achieve lasting health in your back and spine. To learn more about how we can help you, schedule an initial assessment today!