(26-07-11) A Technique for Relieving Back Pain

by Jeff Jurmain, MA

Among all the health tips out there, getting some daily exercise ranks near the top. Exercise has been linked to improvements in a wide swath of health problems. It has been proven to reduce your risk of chronic disease and prolong your life. It will make you feel better, consistently.

The latest revelation is a piece of health news that found exercise could help relieve lower back pain.
Pain in the lower back is among the most common health complaints around. A new study found that physical exercise has a positive effect on the formation of cells in the intervertebral discs. The news was presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of the
Lumbar Spine.

The study's results were based on rats that underwent treadmill exercise. They studied how many new cells in the intervertebral discs were formed in rats that had run on a treadmill for about one hour a day compared with those that had only moved freely around a cage.

It shows that intervertebral discs can be positively affected by aerobic exercise, and that makes all the difference in low back pain.

Pain in the lumbar spine is common and may be due to disc degeneration. This means disc cells no longer have normal function. Based on the new results, the research team intends to study whether the cells in degenerated discs respond as positively to exercise as they have now shown to do in normal discs.

Exercise remains an important part of the treatment for back pain today. But there is limited knowledge about the specific effects that exercise have on the discs and how much exercise we need to achieve this.

More studies are planned to establish whether exercise can prevent disc degeneration and thus prevent back pain -- as well as to study the effects of exercise when back problems have already arisen.

As it stands, get active to help prevent back pain, and reduce the effects of back pain you already have. Talk to your doctor or physiotherapist to find out what types and what level of exercise are appropriate for your situation.

Source: Study, Sahlgrenska Academy, Presented at Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine, July 5, 2011.

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