Mitigating Back Pain and Increasing Core Strength
Peter Nevenglosky
Issue date: 12/11/07 Section: Voices
Fellow Sternies, I would like to introduce my new column focused on staying healthy and fit despite the crazy schedule of pursuing an MBA. As a Certified Personal Trainer, I will use this regular piece to offer quick workout, nutrition, and general fitness tips. As my certification focuses largely on posture and alignment, I thought I would start off with some tips of how to mitigate back pain while sitting in those fantastic seats provided by our great administration! So before you have time to hit the gym hard, I want to make sure that you have proper back alignment, the key to preventing injury.
If you are like me you find yourself slouching, fading in and out of consciousness, while soaking in regression analysis and indirect cash flows. However, when you do this you are straining and weakening your back muscles, which leads to a weak core and can be dangerous when you hit the gym that one day every two weeks (tsk tsk!). The problem that many people are experiencing when they do this is that they lose the natural curvature of their lower back, or fail to maintain proper lordosis. Try to stay with me here! Though the term may sound like some type of weird disease, it actually refers to the inward curve of the lower back just above the waistline which forces our chests outward and our shoulders back. This position is critical to maintain and yet we often lose it when bending or sitting for extended periods of time. Eventually, this results in the lower back pain most of us feel at one point or another.
The good news is that correcting this problem does not necessarily require expensive doctor's visits, medication, or even surgery. Often these issues can be corrected through the simple exercises made popular by Rob McKenzie, an Australian physical therapist. I don't have enough space to get into a deep discussion of the specifics of those here, but feel free to ask me in person. One thing that you can do to alleviate the pain is to use a lumbar roll when sitting for extended periods. This helps to maintain the concavity of the lower back especially during those three grueling hours of consecutive classes. Essentially, the main thing I want to stress is that maintaining proper posture is very important to our long-term health and ability to stay active especially as we get older!
As always, feel free to grab me in the hall of KMC if you have any questions about these tips or any other general health issue. Have a happy and healthy new year!
If you are like me you find yourself slouching, fading in and out of consciousness, while soaking in regression analysis and indirect cash flows. However, when you do this you are straining and weakening your back muscles, which leads to a weak core and can be dangerous when you hit the gym that one day every two weeks (tsk tsk!). The problem that many people are experiencing when they do this is that they lose the natural curvature of their lower back, or fail to maintain proper lordosis. Try to stay with me here! Though the term may sound like some type of weird disease, it actually refers to the inward curve of the lower back just above the waistline which forces our chests outward and our shoulders back. This position is critical to maintain and yet we often lose it when bending or sitting for extended periods of time. Eventually, this results in the lower back pain most of us feel at one point or another.
The good news is that correcting this problem does not necessarily require expensive doctor's visits, medication, or even surgery. Often these issues can be corrected through the simple exercises made popular by Rob McKenzie, an Australian physical therapist. I don't have enough space to get into a deep discussion of the specifics of those here, but feel free to ask me in person. One thing that you can do to alleviate the pain is to use a lumbar roll when sitting for extended periods. This helps to maintain the concavity of the lower back especially during those three grueling hours of consecutive classes. Essentially, the main thing I want to stress is that maintaining proper posture is very important to our long-term health and ability to stay active especially as we get older!
As always, feel free to grab me in the hall of KMC if you have any questions about these tips or any other general health issue. Have a happy and healthy new year!
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