There’s no doubt that regular exercise is essential if you want to maintain a healthy body and spine in the future. Knowing how much exercise to do in a week, and when to take a break, it is crucial to make sure you are improving your body rather than causing unnecessary wear and tear to your joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons. So how much exercise is best every week? Here’s our advice from Ambleside Chiropractors in West Vancouver.
The Importance of Regular Exercise for your Spine
Exercise is the wonder cure and preventative for all things spine and body-related, along with a healthy sleep pattern, of course. Working out keeps your muscles healthy, your joints well-exercised, and helps your body function well.
Researchers agree that around 80% of people who suffer from lower back pain have decreased muscle function around their pelvis and other areas of their bodies. Your exercise routine should be focused on improving the strength of your core muscles, and this could include everything from swimming to going for regular walks.
How Exercise Helps Your Back
More specifically, regular exercise helps keep your spine’s discs healthy. They work like a sponge, keeping the flow of nutrients steady while you work out. If you live a lifestyle that is too static, your discs can weaken and lead to much greater problems. A poor exercise routine can lead to swelling and malnourished discs. Sitting for long periods of time will compress your discs, robbing them of the essential nutrients they need to keep healthy. Only regular movement and exercises acts like a pump, adding nutrients and flushing out expired debris. It also acts to strengthen the ligaments that hold your joints and discs in place.
Regular exercise also helps to reduce the stiffness in your joints and bones through your ligaments and tendons. You’ll begin to notice a difference within a few weeks of starting your new exercise regime. This is because your body has begun to reduce the swelling, which means torn muscles through everyday activity are less likely, preventing painful visits to your medical professional.
Regular Exercise for Your General Health
Our Ambleside Chiropractor in West Vancouver always takes a total approach to your back’s health, which means looking in detail in other areas of your lifestyle, which could be causing you pain. This includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, and a good sleep pattern.
Regular exercise is the most important facet of keeping your body and mind healthy. Pairing your regular exercises with an effective stretching routine can have an almost immediate and also preventative effect on future lower back pain and pain in your neck and shoulders.
Exercises for Your Back
Each patient is an individual, something we understand here at Ambleside Chiropractic. Although general exercise is bound to help your back, certain strategies might work best, especially if you are already feeling the symptoms of back pain.
It’s recommended you visit our chiropractor in West Vancouver for an up-to-date health diagnosis – he can help you figure out the best exercises for you. We already have many pre-planned fitness strategies for a range of conditions and symptoms.
The Key Area…
Your abdominal and hip flexor muscles are crucial to maintaining a healthy back into old age. They are almost solely responsible for keeping your posture straight and your bones and joints strong. This isn’t about gaining a six-pack, but rather making sure you are exercising the correct parts of your body.
Exercise Might Be Uncomfortable At First…
Depending on how much you’ve exercised in the past, the initial feeling of regular exercise will likely be uncomfortable. This is because your bones, muscles, and joints are adjusting to sudden activity. Although there may be pain or discomfort initially, the eventual payoff of exercise far outweighs these initial but very temporary soreness.
Our Chiropractor in West Vancouver will recommend a slow start to exercise first and stress that the first feelings of discomfort are what we call “good pain,” the sort of pain that shows your body is appreciating and adjusting to your new activity.
Building an Exercise Strategy That Suits Your Body
A varied mix of exercise is recommended to target every part of your body. Depending on your symptoms, we will suggest a combination of aerobic, stretching routines, and strengthening exercises that are designed to tackle your specific symptoms. These routines target your core abdominal muscles, as well as your legs, such as calves and hamstrings, which offer crucial support to your spine and pelvis.
Feel free to ask our Chiropractor in West Vancouver on how your exercises can complement your other fun activities.
