ActiveWorkoutsThese three exercises reduced my lower back pain – you need to try themFocusing on my core, glute and hip strength has made a massive differenceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ActiveWorkoutsThese three exercises reduced my lower back pain – you need to try themFocusing on my core, glute and hip strength has made a massive differenceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Focusing on my core, glute and hip strength has made a massive difference
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Although I’m a very active person who trains four to five times a week, for the past year I’ve suffered from terrible lower back pain. This is partly due to the fact that the two discs at the bottom of my spine are degenerative, but what makes it ten times worse is the fact I’m sat down at a desk for the majority of the working day – and we all know how bad it is to sit for hours on end.
Previously, I’d spend a lot of time doing core exercises in my warm ups and, rightly so, as our core muscles act as a protective corset around the trunk of our body, providing spinal stability and balance. If it’s weak, then our lower back can end up overcompensating to help with everyday movements, putting it under pressure and causing pain. But two other areas I also started to focus on were my glutes and hips.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“If your glutes are under active they don’t provide support for the pelvis, nor your lumbar spine, therefore placing increased pressure on the muscles of the lower back,” says Laurence Plant, a chiropractor and owner ofHenley Practice. “Tight hip flexors also pull the pelvis into an anterior tilt which leads to an increased curvature of the lower back and therefore increased stress.”
For the past four months I incorporated these three exercises into my warm up routine to target my core, glutes and hips, and they have honestly helped so much. I can now get up in the morning without having to pull myself across the bed, run without being in agony afterwards and bend down without hobbling like an old dear. Intrigued? Here’s what I’ve been doing…
Knee press deadbug
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
To do:
Copenhagen plank
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
You’ve probably tried a regular plank on your forearms, but have you tried a Copenhagen plank? As well as having to squeeze my core very tight throughout this exercise, you’re also squeezing your glutes, adductor and abductor muscles too – so it’s a great all-rounder, especially for hip strength and stability.
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To do:
Glute taps
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Sitting down all day for my job causes my glute muscles to turn off, because I’m not using them, so I need to switch them back on. I’ve tried lots of different glute exercises, but these glute taps – where you hinge at the hip and tap your foot behind your body across to the other side – are the only exercise that seems to get them fired up for me. You do feel like a ballerina doing them though.
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