It happened seven months ago: I was carrying my son up the stairs when he dropped his truck. I turned to pick it up and—wham! Pain shot through my lower back. It took a five-second incident to trigger months of anguish, but my weak abdominal muscles were the actual precursor to my back pain.
It's estimated that up to 85 per cent of us will experience back pain at some point in our lives. And, like mine, the majority of this pain will result from muscular imbalances, weakness and poor posture.
"One of the best ways to prevent and treat lower back pain is to have a strong, balanced core," says Stacy Irvine, a chiropractor and co-owner of Totum Life Science in Toronto.
Just getting out for a walk can help manage your daily pain, but you need to condition your core muscles—and make sure your front, side and back muscles are all equally strong—to really help prevent future lower back problems. Before you start an exercise program, you need to find out what's causing your lower back pain to rule out any serious issues. Then start a conditioning program such as the one created by Irvine, below, which focuses on exercises that target all areas of the core while keeping the back relatively stable. (Traditional crunches, which require the spine to curl upward, can aggravate some lower back conditions.) Aim to do the regimen three times a week for best results.
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