Fitness Fix for Sore Backs

photo by targophoto

Sometimes I like to think of myself as superhuman. I may not be faster than a speeding bullet (or a speeding third grader), but at least I fight evildoers like chronic knee pain and hopelessness daily. I work for healthy, happy living for all. Or at least me.

In my other life—you know, the one I go to from 9 to 5—I’m like a sedentary Clark Kent. I write. I sit at a desk. I type, slouch, and stare at a computer. If you work an office job, you know what that means: I feel more like Quasimodo than Superman. My shoulders are tight, my neck is stiff, and my back is way out of whack.

An hourlong deep-tissue massage usually leaves me de-kinked but, alas, those rubdowns don’t come cheap. (A gift certificate for one would be greatly appreciated as a Christmas gift. Hint. Hint.)

Here’s an alternative: strength training. A recent Danish study found that five simple exercises improved function and lessened pain in women with tightness and tenderness in the muscles that run from the back of the head, down the neck, and into the upper back.

Compared with a control group and a group that did aerobic training (like bicycling), the women who completed five weight-lifting exercises three times a week reported less pain. Plus, those women were better able to engage the sore muscles and perform better.

The best part? The women didn’t do some crazy complicated exercises you can only replicate in a fancy gym with weight machines. Nope, they used dumbbells.

If you’re oh-so-sore, try completing the following five exercises three times a week. The women in the study did two sets of each exercise with 12 reps each set. As they progressed, they upped it to three sets. After four weeks, they increased the dumbbell weight and lowered the reps to eight or 10.The study’s authors suggest alternating between exercises 1, 2, and 5 on one day and exercises 1, 3, 4 on another.

The five exercises are:

1. Shoulder shrugs
2. One-arm row
3. Upright row
4. Reverse fly
5. Shoulder abduction

Click here to learn how to do each exercise.