DOWN TO THE CORE! ADDING TO THE BACK PAIN PUZZLE

Along with tight hips and hamstrings, another big contributor to lower back pain is a weak core. Your core and hip muscles are in a constant tug of war to balance your pelvis throughout the day.  If one is overpowering the other significantly, you will feel it in one way or another. Typically, the core is overpowered by our hips. So here are some basic core exercises to get you started:

DEAD BUGS

Dead Bugs are a great exercise when beginning a progression of core exercises.  Start off by lying down on your back with your knees bent.  (A) Slowly raise your knees off the ground as you press your belly button into the ground.  (B) Once you are stabilized, with your belly button drawn in, begin to reach your left arm and right leg to opposite sides of the room. The further you reach, the harder it will be to keep your core contracted and in position.  So only go as far as you can hold, slowly progressing further as you gain strength.  (C)  Alternate sides.

PLANKS

The Plank is the most simple of ab exercises.   However, that does not make it the easiest.  Once you've gotten familiar with contracting your core doing Dead Bugs, you can move on to this exercise.  Start on your knees and elbows then walk your feet out until you're fully extended.  You can perform a plank on your elbows as pictured above, or with your arms fully extended.  At first, shoot for 30 second holds and progress from there.  A good goal to set is 2 minutes.  You can eventually add challenge to this exercise by adding weight or an unstable surface such as a BOSU ball.