Almost everyone has had an episode of back pain. Most of us have been spared the "excrutiating back injury" or the chronic remnants of pain from an old injury. The old school of thought for treatment of back pain was: bed rest, pain killers and anti-inflammatory agents and "hope for the best." There has been research over the years to suggest that movement restriction can actually cause stiffness and excacerbate the situation, so the newer recommendation was to use bed rest for the very acute stage of injury and pain, and then to slowly begin movement, with medications as necessary. Now, another researchers weighs in with a new study and weightlifiting seems to be the key.
Pushing those sore muscles with weight training and improving overall body strength may reduce back pain and the chronicity of the back pain. In this study of 240 men and women, weightlifting enhanced quality of by as much as 28%, and the more frequent the training, the better the results. The participants had no surgery, and none of them suffered from damaged vertebrae or nerve root problems. Most of the men and women had lower back pain as a result of injury to soft tissue of the lower back. The theory behind the strengthening (of the whole body) is that we tend to injure our backs when we are fatigued, so making our body's strong in general will help us avoid a sudden injury. Also, when you use your back for specific tasks, it still involves using your core or abdominal muscles, bracing with your legs and then having your arms work to possibly lift something or move something. So all body parts are involved and all body parts need to be strong.
Once you have the injury, movement helps you to avoid stiffening and then the overall atrength moves help to substantially reduce injury as the back (and other areas) get stronger. The researcher's approach was to gradually introduce weight workouts and then after several weeks, begin a heavier, more demanding work out. The goal - lifting about 75%-80% of maximum lift ability, so the end point of the exercise plan is challenging, but not dangerous or unreasonable.
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