Lumbar Extension Exercises Help Your Patients Heal
There are so many reasons for experiencing back pain. Sometimes it’s a result of the work our patients do, including heavy lifting and repetitive movement that taxes our lower back. Sometimes we merely overdo it in everyday life while, other times, an accident or fall causes our lower back pain.
Whichever the reason, it’s important to find ways to combat the pain, so recommending lumbar extension exercises for back pain is often a wise idea, where appropriate. Such exercises are often a “no-brainer” because they are easy to do at home and require no equipment. The only thing necessary is motivation and the desire to feel better.
Chances are that if you prescribe lumbar extension exercises for your patients, you’ll want to take the time to demonstrate how to do them properly or, at least, provide the patient with illustrations or videos that assist them in doing these in the proper manner so as not to cause further harm. You’ll likely do that in your office or some other space where physical therapy takes place. Hopefully, you’ll supervise the patient and correct anything they may be doing wrong.
Patients need careful instruction from their doctor or physical therapist, so communication is essential. You wouldn’t send them home with the suggestion to “look up lumbar extension exercises on the internet and do some of those”, would you?
But will you take the time to explain to them WHY you’re suggesting these lumbar extension exercises? Truly, it’s not enough just to give your patients or clients an assignment. They should know why you’ve made this suggestion and what kinds of benefits they will reap from doing the exercises daily.
For this kind of spine education, you need the right tools. These tools will demonstrate the workings of the spine and help explain why these exercises will be advantageous to the patient’s recovery. From these tools, your patient will learn how they injured themselves or what’s affected due to their condition, why they hurt, and how their spine will positively respond to the exercises.
The only way to do that accurately is to use a spine model, and the only spine models that are realistic enough to get the job done are those manufactured by Dynamic Disc Designs (ddd). These models are amazingly accurate and they move just like a real spine. So, if you want your client/patient to do prone press-ups or a standing extension, you can show them exactly what will happen to their spine as they do those exercises and why their back pain may cease with the stretching.
There are numerous lumbar models available from ddd and you can browse their website or consult with the company’s expert creator, Dr. Jerome Fryer, to determine which are best for your practice. Because Dr. Fryer designed these models for his patients, who were plagued with various problems, he can easily assist you in choosing the one (or more) that will address the issues and conditions you most often encounter in your practice.
“I use the spinal disc model daily to educate my patients. The dynamic nature of this model conveys the importance of proper movement patterns and disc mechanics.”
– Dr. Douglas J. Taber, DC,
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