The Best Type Of Lower Back Pain Exercises - Exercise Ball Exercises

Exercise Ball Exercises Are Amazingly Effective!

Lower back pain exercises which involve the use of an exercise ball are very effective in reducing lower back pain. I guess I should qualify this by saying that this is true from my own experience and that of others I have worked with.

Many of us have experienced lower back pain at some point in our lives, and a few simple exercise ball exercises can make a remarkable difference, often completely eradicating such pain in our lower back within a week or so.

Doing lower back pain exercises on the unstable surface of an exercise ball, means working harder than you would on a stable surface, such as the floor or an exercise bench. This is because you are recruiting many more muscles to stop yourself from falling off the ball. Plus you are also directly working the targeted muscles - a ten for the price of one deal!

This makes using an exercise ball a very powerful way to exercise without having to expend a lot of extra energy which is good news if you are nursing back pain.

You Must Strengthen Your Core

A word of caution here - if you have an active injury to your lower back, first follow the treatment plan your health care practitioner has given you and get clearance to exercise before beginning these lower back pain exercises.

These exercises integrate work for the lower back directly with work that strengthens your core plus your abdominals.

To effectively reduce lower back pain and prevent recurrence you need to work more than just your lower back muscles. You need to also strengthen your abdominals as well as your thighs and upper back muscles.

Great Lower Back Pain Exercises

Here are just three back exercises that I have found to be really effective:

Alternating Leg Lifts on Exercise Ball

The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen your lower back, glutes and hamstrings

Lie facedown on an exercise ball, with your abdomen resting on the ball.
Place both hands on the floor with your arms straight and your hands underneath your shoulders.
Lift your left leg, straight behind you to hip height, keeping your leg straight; hold for 2 counts, then lower and repeat with your other leg.
Your focus should be on lengthening your leg as opposed to just lifting.
Do 5 to 20 reps.

Trunk Slide

The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen your lower back, abdominals, glutes and hamstrings

Kneel facing the exercise ball
Clasp your hands together and place them on the ball. Keeping your abs contracted and your back in a neutral straight position, slowly roll the ball forward, with the ball rolling along your lower arms as far as your elbows while your body slides forward with your knees staying in the same position on the floor.
Roll as far forward as you can without feeling any shoulder discomfort or losing your neutral spine position.
Roll back.
Do 8- 12 reps.

Hip Lifts

The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen your buttocks, quads and hamstrings

Lie on your back with your feet on the exercise ball and your arms stretched out to the sides.
Keeping your legs straight, slowly raise your hips and buttocks toward the ceiling while contracting your glutes and hamstrings until your bodyweight rests comfortably on your shoulder blades.
Hold for 3 seconds.
Return slowly to the starting position.
Throughout keep your hips square to the ceiling and your abs contracted, by pulling your naval toward your spine.
Do 15-20 reps.

Note: As you get stronger you can challenge yourself by moving your arms closer to your body reducing their stabilizing effect.
As your balance improves you can increase the challenge further by placing your arms across your chest.

There you are - some really simple but highly effective lower back pain exercises using an exercise ball that are quick and easy to perform every day, or at least 3 times a week.

In our downloadable books you will find heaps more lower back pain exercises to make it possible for you to add variety to your workout routine and find the most effective exercises that best suit you.