Post #120825 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Thu, Oct 21, 2004 11:11 AM

Used to have bad back spasms that would keep me incapacitated for days. I had to build up the muscles in my lower back. Once I started doing these weighted back extenstions at my gym, the problem went away:

Most gyms have a back-extension machine that looks something like this:

or this:

These are just machine-assisted versions of the exercise Satan's Sin suggested.

Doing crunches alone helps, but you really need to work the muscles from both sides. Do these back extensions with no weights at first - you'll begin to build muscle slowly and just the stretch itself will relieve much back pain immediately.

My back pain was due to muscle problems, not spinal-cord issues, so I don't know much these exercises will help in those cases. However, I don't see how building-up the core muscles that support the spine could hurt, eh?

Here is some more info:
http://www.drsquat.com/index.cfm?action=viewequipment&equipmentID=701
http://members.core.com/~frank416/backextension.html
And here's a cheap one you can buy yourself:
http://www.epinions.com/content_131596848772#

Sabu.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-10-21 11:15 ]