If you suffer from back pain, you’ll want to avoid this.
An estimated8% of American adultssuffer from persistent or chronic back pain that limits their daily activities.
Spine doctors have a very specific message for people walking around with back pain: Dont push through.
This is especially true with one specific combination of movements, according toDr.
Arthur Jenkins, a spine surgeon and neurosurgeon for the New York Jets and the NFL Retired Players Program.
Jenkins has an initialism for back pain sufferers: BLT, or bending, lifting and twisting.
Its a dangerous combination when done all at once for those with preexisting back pain, he explained.
Experts would avoid doing this at all costs if theyre dealing with back pain.
Many patients walking around with back pain likely already have damage to their disks in their back.
Bending, lifting and twisting can increase this risk.
Take shoveling snow, for example.
You may not even realize how often you execute this motion in your everyday life.
Other common examples include lifting a child car seat out of a car door, Jenkins said.
Moving luggage when traveling is another example.
He recommended that back pain sufferers keep their back and abs as strong as their body will allow.
I find that my back tends to hurt less when I do my core exercises regularly, he said.
Sometimes if I have forgotten for a week or so, my back will remind me.
And then once I start doing the back exercises again, I feel better.
Simply contract your abdominal muscles by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
With practice, it might even become a natural posture for you.
If you are lifting, keep the load close to the core and use the legs, saidDr.
Meredith Warner, an orthopedic surgeon, an author, and the founder ofWell Theory.
One way to help your back out is to get strong quadriceps muscles.
This allows you to use your legs to lift more easily.
This works if one has balance, obviously.
Twisting by itself is a natural motion for the spine and critical to human function, she noted.
In addition to the back and abs, consider adjacent muscles that it’s crucial that you strengthen.
Hip strength is important as well, Warner said.
Strong hips can take some stress away from the lumbar muscles.
Many people begin to have pain during adolescence or the early 20s, Warner said.
Back pain is now understood as a chronic condition with normal episodes of waxing and waning discomfort.
Rarely is there a true injury.
This could include activities like yoga and interventions like physical therapy.
In the meantime, reduce or avoid your BLTs to stay as healthy as possible.This article originally appeared onHuffPost.
