Strengthening of abdominal muscles is a key part of any plan to combat lower back pain. Abdominal muscles are the core muscles that help to support the spine and upper body part.

Muscles work together. Spinal flexion is done with the help of abdominal muscles that help the spine to bend forward. When you bend forward, the abdominal muscles contract and the back muscles stretch. Similar is the case with rectus abdominus muscle. There are many people who do not know how to train lower abs because of huge misconception that upper abs and lower abs are one unique muscle and have the same functions of flexion of the spine although this is partly true. Both these muscles form rectus abdominis (RA) which is in fact one muscle. Put simply, your lower abs can be moving while the upper abs can not be moving and vice versa.

Due to this reason, it is very important to strengthen and make flexible the opposing sets of muscles to overcome the lower back pain.

For doing workout on abdominal muscles, there are many exercises. Sit ups and bent knee crunches are some of the very commonly known exercises for strengthening the abdominal muscles.

You might have come across many persons wearing extra weight belts. These belts are wrapped around a person’s abdomen and the back. The belt gives the extra support as the abdomen muscles of that person are not strong enough to support the back. It may be kept in mind that abdomen and back have a close relationship and strong stomach muscles play significant role in keeping the back healthy and avoiding the back pain. The problem with these belts is your muscles get even weaker because they aren’t being used.

There is number of abdomen exercises to improve your lower back and abdomen muscle strength, like balance ball crunches, double or alternating leg lifts, side bends, plank and floor crunches. If on doing crunches your stomach and lower back pain aggravates, it simply mean that you are not doing appropriate crunch and you have to improve on your crunch technique. For doing crunches, keep your lower back flat on the ground against the floor; lift your torso by using abdomen muscle.

The other exercise to strengthen your stomach muscles and reduce lower back pain is Pilates that is basically a combination of yoga and floor exercises. In this program you learn how to decrease stress by using abdominal breathing that is not a normal nasal breathing. This help reduces stomach and lower back pain.

As the back and the stomach have intertwined relationship, it is essential that your stomach muscles should be strong enough to support back so that you can enjoy a comfortable health without any lower back pain.