Other than the obvious that a strong muscle can handle more stress before failing, there are several reasons to strengthen the muscles of your lower back and abdomen. I’ll keep this straight forward.
A study was published in Spine in 2007; Spine is a peer reviewed journal that publishes research regarding various ailments of the spine. The study tested 19 participants with chronic lower back pain and 19 “healthy” participants. They made each participant carry out of number of lifting and reaching activities at specific heights and loads. Yeah I know, pretty boring so far. Here is the take home point. The 19 subjects with chronic lower back pain had less muscular control over their lower backs during these tasks.
Less muscular control leads to more aberrant motion which often leads to the initial lower back injury, or as hypothesized in this study, increases likelihood of continued or prolonged back pain. We’ll discuss exactly which exercises you should and should not be doing future.
Bryan M. Steele, DC