In her inspiring life story, Jo Malone says that life is about conquering things. In her journey from growing up in a council flat and struggling with dyslexia to being a world-known, innovative perfumer, she’s had to conquer limitations over and over again. Similarly, the dancer and actress Leslie Caron had to overcome seriously challenging times in her life. At age 90 she says that her military discipline is most important: “I do my exercises every day. Discipline is everything in life, I think, if you want to live a long life, which I am trying to do”. (Dessert Island Discs, 18/2/22)
We all have challenges, but creating our own meaningful discipline and healthy habits can help us through. When you have back pain, what you do every day will count: avoiding the movements that hurt, and including practices that benefit your back. This blog focuses on core strengthening in particular, as it is an essential part of your journey to a healthier back. Especially if you don’t know how to start with core strengthening, this blog is for you!
With serious back pain, it may be frightening to move. You may not know exactly which movements will cause sudden pain. You may have been told that strengthening abdominal muscles is good for your back, but how do you even start? Would it not increase your back pain? Indeed, there are ways of strengthening abdominal muscles that may hurt your back. Sit-ups done in a wrong way, for example, could pull too much on your neck and lower back.
Core Strengthening Videos
Because core strengthening is so important for back health, I made a video series with five sessions. They are gentle and safe, and designed to become progressively more challenging. You can easily include them in your daily routines, as every session is about 15 to 20 minutes long. Every session also includes a short relaxation at the end. The importance of relaxation to heal back pain cannot be overestimated. While the strengthening movements deal with physical symptoms, the relaxation can deal with the stress that comes from having back pain, or the stress that caused the back pain in the first place.
The first session is super gentle and careful, ideal for people who have strong back pain. While including exercises that will start engaging your abdominal muscles, it will also relax your back. The first session contains much needed skills for a healthy back. They are basic, but many of us either don’t know these skills or we don’t automatically include them in our daily practices. You will learn relaxed abdominal breathing, pelvic floor strengthening and how to get down to and up from the floor. Engaging the pelvic floor muscles is often overlooked in core strengthening exercises. However, they are essential for women as well as men, especially when we increase the strength of the abdominal wall and thus increase the pressure downward.
Try the first session right here.
The next four videos progress carefully from the first, giving you easy to follow instructions. They can be purchased for only £45.
If you need a little extra support on a daily basis, these videos are for you. If you need a voice to tell you to actually do these exercises, and how to do them, these videos are for you. Just play the 15 minutes every day. You can then go to the next one, or stay for a while with the easier ones before progressing. It will give you strength as well as greater flexibility and relaxation: a truly luxurious way to look after yourself.
Enjoy!
