Osteopath and Elite Trainer Henry Howe reveals the best way to ease aches and pains. You’ll be sitting more comfortably.
2.5 million people experience back pain every day in the UK. One in five of those people who suffer have given up their job or reduced their hours because of their condition. Your back may even be hurting as you read this article.
The reason, most likely, is that it doesn’t get enough opportunity to move. Moving from bed to desk chair to sofa on repeat is not conducive to good spinal health. The solution is to use your time in the gym wisely and afford your back a little TLC.
Classic compound movements including squats and deadlifts are the perfect way to keep your back strong, but you also need to tick some other boxes. The following exercises will introduce some movement variation to your programme, which will serve to bulletproof you against aches and pains. You better get moving…
Turkish Get Up
The Turkish Get-Up is the ultimate multi-plane exercise. Due to its complexity it’s impossible to repeat in the same way every time and this provides great variation for your spine to deal with, and therefore grow stronger.
Cossack Squat
Your hips and pelvis are the foundations for your spine, and the Cossack squat is the perfect way to challenge each hip independently. This is a hybrid strength and mobility exercise.
Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
The single-leg Romanian Deadlift is perhaps my favourite exercise of the lot here. Key points are to maintain a level position in your lumbar spine and to maintain a subtle amount of knee bend throughout the hinge.
Supine TRX Row
Pull ups are out of reach for many people and can cause issues for those with shoulder restrictions. This row variation is a nice body-weight move that will help you work up to full blown pull ups.
Kettlebell Swing
You might be surprised to see this in my selection, but the KB Swing provides something not many people have in their programme – deceleration. The ability to hold strong as the Kettlebell tries to pull you under is paramount.
Henry Howe is a Registered Osteopath, Elite Trainer and a member of the Education Team at Third Space.
As always if you are suffering with undiagnosed back pain please visit a qualified healthcare professional for assistance. If you’re unsure of the technique of any of the below exercises then your best port of call is a Personal Trainer or Strength Coach.
