Typically, people with low back pain bend down by bending their knees and spreading their legs to keep their backs straight. This method is now being questioned.
- Lowering by bending the knees and spreading the knees would not be a good method for all patients.
- The authors plead for the advice given to people suffering from low back pain to be more individualized.
About 84% of people have had, or will have, low back pain in their lifetime according to the website.Health Insurance.
Low back pain is pain, often intense, felt in the lumbar vertebrae, located at the bottom of the back. The patient may then have a feeling of blockage and/or difficulty in making certain movements. For all the individuals concerned, the advice to avoid it is multiple: do physical activity regularly, adopt good postures, change position regularly, stretch or bend down by bending the knees and spreading the legs way to keep your back straight. Nevertheless, according to a new study published last July in the journal Plos ONEthis last recommendation would not be suitable for everyone.
“A slower, more squat lift, close to a squat”
To reach this conclusion, the scientists followed patients – who suffered from low back pain or not – and asked them to bend down 100 times, bending their knees, to pick up boxes of two different weights. “While the two groups (the one grouping people with low back pain and the other with individuals who never have pain) lifted the boxes using a fairly comparable technique at the end of the 100 lifts, the group with low back pain still showed a tendency to perform a slower, more squat lift, close to a squatexplains Nic Saraceni, co-author of the study. These results are the opposite of what should occur according to existing guidance on correct techniques.”, especially the one to lift an object.
The method chosen for stooping is not solely responsible
The researchers point out that people with low back pain who follow this technique to bend down should, in theory, no longer have back pain. However, in reality, this is not the case. According to them, since this classic method is not suitable for all patients, advice on how to lower should therefore be more individualized. For example, to bend down while having a straight back, individuals can opt for other means, such as putting one knee on the ground with the other leg at a right angle. The only thing to avoid is bending down to pick up an object. On the other hand, the scientists point out that the way to bend down is not the only given: it is also necessary to take into account the overall state of health of the patients, the sport they do or the repetitive tasks that they realize during their working days.
Habits to adopt to relieve back pain
Many techniques exist to avoid back pain. It is usually a matter of integrating into one’s daily life: distributing the load when shopping while carrying a bag in each hand, sitting down to put on pants or shoes rather than balancing on one foot , arrange your workstation to have good posture, etc. The practice of one or more regular physical activities such as the swimming pool, Nordic walking or muscle strengthening are also beneficial, even in the event of pain. Finally, relaxation, suppleness and stretching exercises will also allow you to reduce and prevent pain.
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