Back pain – the importance of strengthening your back muscles

An illness is rarely the cause for back pains. In 90 % of the cases, badly trained muscles are the cause for back pain. We spend most of the time sitting, be it at home on the sofa or in the office, using our back muscles less and less, causing their weakening. This is why it is all the more important to train and strengthen specifically this muscle group.

Muscles are arranged in several layers, on top of each other. First the short muscles, then the long-ones, forming like this a strong network of muscles, stabilizing the spine. The deep back muscles are involved in every movement of the spine, like straightening up, stretching, bending sideways and turning.

The superficial back muscles, sometimes called secondary muscles, can be divided into three groups: the body-arm-muscles, the trunk muscles and the spine-rib-muscles.

The superficial back muscles connect the back with the legs, the arms and the head. This muscle group is responsible for the shape of our back.

In general, endurance sports are very good for training the back muscles, as they train the back and abdominal muscles equally. We recommend hiking, Nordic walking, jogging (if done properly), cycling, swimming, indoor-climbing, cross-country skiing and aquarobics.

In the internet you’ll find good videos with specific exercises for strengthening your back and abdominal muscles.