Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Depending on the answers, it’ll be clearer where you should begin.
Were you always good at certain exercises and made a beeline to those? Given your past lower back injury, will they still be possible for you, or are they best avoided? If you’re worried about a lower back injury reoccurring, then it’s best to avoid jogging, using a rowing machine, and doing other activities that will put the additional weight of strain on this part of your body.
You’ll also want to take it easy in the first few weeks. No speeding out of the gate now that your physician has cleared you to take up exercise again.
As with any exercise, you’ll feel sore the next day if you don’t take care of yourself. We’d suggest a hot bath to relax the muscles before going to bed. This reduces the likelihood of waking up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. Also, sleeping well is particularly important. This way, your body can repair itself overnight from the previous day’s activities. You should use the best mattress for back pain to support your needs. Don’t make matters worse by ignoring the need for excellent sleep because it’s so restorative.
Ignore the distance, duration, and weights that you were used to before. That was the old you. Refresh by removing ego from the equation and starting small, light, and keeping the duration limited. The most important thing is to not get reinjured. To avoid that, it’s necessary to begin at a low point and work back up. Not only will this help to prevent new injuries to your back or elsewhere on your body, but it reflects your lack of exercise in the last few weeks or months too.
Exercisers coming off an injury need to listen to their body and how it reacts to a new fitness routine. There’s a big difference between being sore from working muscle groups that haven’t seen much action recently and feeling a twinge in your lower back in the most troublesome spot. So, learn to tell the difference because being sore is a common part of exercising. Essentially, you’re right back as a beginner again, even if you have advanced-level knowledge from experience. Only when you’re running through a routine perfectly without feeling soreness or physical pain should you consider raising the bar by upping the pace, adding more weights for the reps, etc.
We hope the message is clear that the goal of getting back on track is not about speed or setting new records but sustaining exercise pain-free. It’s critical to avoid hurting your back once again.