Exercise for the spine

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Exercise or physical movement helps stop back and neck problems. It also helps the body heal.

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Orthopedics | About spine surgery | Diagnosis | Treatment | Recovery and rehabilitation

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If you already have an injury or damage to your spine, you should talk to your doctor or physical therapist (PT) before you start an exercise routine. It's important to make sure the exercise you choose works well and is safe for you. Exercise can help you:

Strengthen back muscles• Reduce your chances of falling and injuring yourself
Strengthen your abdomen (middle of the body), arms and legs
Reduce your chances of muscle spasms (tightening)
Stop the loss of bone mass caused by osteoporosis (weakening of the bones)
Lessen pain

It's important to choose exercise that you enjoy. If you enjoy it, you're more likely to do it and keep on doing it.

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How spine exercise helps you

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Exercise that increases flexibility and your ability to move easily can help reduce pain. It also helps your spine stay healthy.

It's important to use safe movement. Tight muscles cause imbalance in spinal movements. If your muscles are tight, it can make it easier for you to injure your spine.

Gentle stretching helps create more flexibility, lessen pain and reduce the chances you'll injure yourself again in the future.

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Core muscles are located closer to the center of your body and act as stabilizers. These key muscles are trained to help you move your spine safely and hold your spine steady as you move in daily life.

These muscles form a stable platform, helping you move your arms and legs in the ways you want. If you have weak core muscles, your spine can have too much stress on it as you move in daily life. This stress can lead to injury.

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Learning any physical movement takes practice. Muscles must be trained. It's important to train the spinal muscles to work together as they get stronger. Spine muscles trained to move safely will help lessen the chances of injuring yourself.

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As your overall physical fitness level gets better, it will help heal your spine problems. Fitness conditioning means using safe kinds of aerobic exercise or exercise that makes you breathe more and get oxygen to your muscles and heart.

Examples of aerobic exercise include swimming, walking or using a stair stepper, among others.

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