Hey, El Paso. It’s Dr. David here from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy. I’m going to talk to you guys today about the top 3 worst back exercises that you could possibly do. They’re going to likely make your back pain problem even worse, maybe not the first time you do it, but if you keep doing it, as time goes on, it almost always makes back problems worse.

Number 1 cobra stretching. So then, lie down here on your tummy. This is an exercise that I often have people tell me that they’re doing at home where they’re stretching their abs out, getting their back to curve like this. This is not a good exercise to be doing, especially if you’ve got herniated discs, sciatica-type problems, tight back muscles. This is not a good exercise to be doing for the long-term. In the short-term it might help a little bit just to relieve the problem, but you don’t want to be doing this long-term.

Second worst exercise you could be doing is ab twist exercises. So, there’s different versions of this. She’s doing a bicycle-type motion here. If you’re not properly using your abs, which might take some expert help, this can be very harmful for your back. There’s another version that clients will tell us that they’ll do in the gym holding a medicine ball where they’re holding their legs up like so and they’re twisting, touching their hands all the way to the ground on the side of them. That can also be harmful on the back if you’ve got a back problem.

The third worst exercise that you could be doing for your back problem is leg raises. There’s a few versions of this as well. So, one might be where you’re just picking up one leg at a time, like this. You’re using muscles that could crunch your back and make it worse in the long run. And then another version is where people are holding up both legs like this. They might come up and down or just hold and it does work your abs out a little bit, but if you’re feeling the muscles in the front of your hips you’re working, that could definitely make your back problem worse in the long run.

So, if you’ve got a back problem right now and you’ve been doing these exercises, I would stop right now. The best thing that you can do is talk to an expert about your back problems so that you get the right exercises. Get expert help so that you’re not running into having to take pain medications every day, avoiding surgery for the long-term, and so that you can get back to being active and doing stuff that you want to do without your back pain slowing you down.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you, give us a call at 915-503-1314 and ask about a free discovery visit. Or you can also head over to our website and download one of our free e-books. We’ve got one talking about back pain tips that you can do at home today.

Thanks so much everybody. Have a wonderful day! Bye!