Vibration machine exercises, helpful in lower back pain

Back pain affects about 60-80% of people in the UK at some point in their lives, being one of the most common health problems in people aged 30 to 60. It is more prevalent in those with office jobs who spend a lot of time sitting, but can be triggered by a wider range of factors, among which back muscle sprain or overstretching of ligaments or muscles, minor problems with intervertebral discs or with intervertebral joints.

Inflammation of the joints and arthritic conditions can also lead to back pain in some patients, and in others the stiffness and discomfort is caused by conditions like ankylosing spondylitis. Less commonly, bone disorders, infections, tumors and excessive pressure on the spine can cause low back pain.

In most cases the condition is non-specific, meaning that the onset is sudden and the pain is acute. It is more difficult to tell the cause on non-specific low back pain, as the trigger isn’t usually visible, or there’s no specific health problem that can be classified as the cause of backache. This type of back pain varies depending on posture, activity and treatment, and usually goes away without requiring special care.

More severe cases of backache, such as those caused by osteoporosis, tumors, infections, fractures or radicular syndrome require a different approach, but in this article we’ll focus on non-specific back pain.

Types of exercise to avoid with low back pain

Highly demanding physical activities like lifting heavy weights or doing high intensity interval training with added weight can make one more prone to back pain, or worsen the symptoms where the condition is already present. High-impact aerobic exercises, like kangoo jumps, running, tennis or other sports that make one twist their spine should also be avoided.

Caution is required in some types of dancing, in contact sports like volleyball, in extreme sports like snowboarding or other such activities that put too much strain on the muscles and ligaments of the back. Step aerobics and body weight exercises that put more pressure on the spine should be avoided, as they can lead to flare-ups of lower back pain.

Vibration training can provide relief from low back pain

Although whole body vibration can be a replacement for strength exercises and weight training, this form of physical activity has been shown to be helpful in reducing back pain, so you can add it on your list of daily activities if you suffer from backaches.

A recent study published in the Journal of Physical Therapie Science by researchers at the Daejon University, Republic of Korea, showed that whole body vibration exercises mixed with lumbar training (30 minutes a day, 3 times a week) can significantly reduce back pain in 6 weeks.

The participants were 40 patients who performed either lumbar stability training (30 minutes per session) or vibration exercises coupled with lumbar stability training (25, respectively 5 minutes). After 6 weeks, the vibration group showed important differences in static balance, pain, disability and spinal curvature, the combination of WBV with lumbar stability exercises being more effective than conventional exercises alone in reducing lower back pain and improving the fall index and balance.

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