Everyone knows they need to strengthen their core to prevent low back pain, but what does this mean? Most people assume if they do crunches and back extensions they are covering their bases, however this is not true. There are smaller stabilizing muscles attaching directly to the spine that also need to be strengthened. These are difficult to isolate as the larger muscles do most of the work with the above mentioned exercises. There is a group of exercises for strengthening those smaller muscles. It is important to master the first of these (abdominal hollowing) before moving to the next. If you are not performing the abdominal hollowing properly then the next steps will not be effective. A little hint; you should be able to keep a steady respiration rate while doing these exercises, if you can't you are probably just sucking your stomach in, not engaging the muscles.
Click here to see the exercises, they are listed in order, as numbers 1 through 4 under low back and pelvis exercises.
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