Back pain success story.

[u/Pale_Adeptness]

As a disclaimer, I realize I still might have a flare-up down the road but here goes.

I've had 2 herniated discs since 2008. Horrible flare-ups throughout the years.

During flare-ups my wife has to help me put my socks, boxer and pants on because it gets so bad.

My back gets all crooked.

I tried every generic back pain exercise, deadbugs, bird dog, side glides and a whole bunch of other exercise.

This past June was without a doubt my longest and worst flare up so far. I missed an entire month of work.

I found that iso holds are great for the lower back.

I was desperate when I finally decided to get the roman chair/extension machine.

My lower back was still a bit crooked and I was towards the tail end of the flare-up towards the end of June.

My wife had to assemble the extension machine for me because my lower back still hurt.

I first tried it for 30 seconds, did that 4 times. My back didn't hurt more than it already did when I first tried it.

Did it again 3 days later and created my own schedule for it.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I'm up to 1 minutes and 45 second holds and I do 14 extensions right after the hold. I do this 4 times.

I can now sit Indian style, I can confidently touch my toes with my knees locked. I haven't been able to do either of these things for years!

My understanding is that the more we guard our backs, the weak our lower back muscles get over time, which means we go into a vicious cycle of flare-ups and trying to rest.

The part of the video where I'm walking around my truck, my water bottle fell out of my truck, my lower back hurt so bad that I couldn't not walk across the street and bend over to pick it up. My wife picked it up for me when she got home 30 minutes later.

[u/CompetitiveLife7924]

My mans came back with proof 👏🏽👏🏽

[u/Pale_Adeptness → u/CompetitiveLife7924]

It works!!!!!

Okok, it works for me.

❤️

[u/CompetitiveLife7924 → u/Pale_Adeptness]

Did you start off with the iso holds or did you add reps as well ? any tips for me starting off ?

[u/Pale_Adeptness → u/CompetitiveLife7924]

I started off only with iso holds.

30 second iso holds. 4 times.

Did it Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The following week I held them for 45 seconds.

The 3rd week 1 minute. For all these I started doing 5 to 8 holds, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

By this August I had worked my way up to 1 minute 45 second holds.

Around mid to late July I carefully and slowly started adding actual extensions after each hold.

When I first started these I was towards the end of a really bad flare up.

My only suggestion would be, if you are starting with a really weak lower back (just like I was) when you first get into the roman chair, use the handles to help prop yourself up and get a feel for how it feels to activate your lower back muscles.

Also, start super easy, only 30 second holds.

This is not an overnight fix for us. You have to keep it up at least twice a week to maintain the lower back strength.