World of back health 

Leisure time

Free time is exercise time

Convenience in everyday life is our biggest downfall. It is an advantage if you find a suitable recreational sport to compensate. There are a few things to bear in mind to ensure that this truly benefits your back.

"My morning starts with ten pull-ups on the horizontal bar in my garden," says Ulrich Kuhnt, sports teacher and head of the Hannover Back School. He knows exactly how to keep fit in his free time. What pull-ups are for one person, jogging in the woods, cycling to work or an after-work yoga class is for another. All these leisure activities are good for your health and, if done correctly, for your back. "Just half an hour a day of aerobic exercise, or endurance sport makes a big difference," explains Kuhnt. Precisely because most people spend the majority of their day sitting, they should balance this with as much activity as possible. The consequences of sitting for too long become noticeable: the muscles break down, lose stability and back pain develops. Stress can exacerbate this, as many people don't realize how cramped their posture is due to the hectic pace of everyday life. Only when they calm down do they feel the painful consequences of too much tension.

Leisure sports - but the right way!
This makes it all the more important to do something good for your back in the long term with a suitable leisure activity - and have fun at the same time. "I only continue to do what I enjoy," says the sports teacher. Use this willingness as motivation and listen to your body.

Back-friendly equipment? Check!
"Before you train with sports equipment, you need to make individual adjustments to prevent poor posture, otherwise you'll quickly lose interest in recreational sports," says Kuhnt. You don't have to go to a professional gym or physiotherapist for effective back training. 

"My morning starts with ten pull-ups on the horizontal bar in my garden."

Ulrich Kuhnt
Sports teacher and head of the back school in Hanover

Swinging for more stability
Or you can simply "swing" a swing stick while watching the news. Two weights are attached to the ends of this highly elastic sports equipment so that leg, back, shoulder and arm muscles can be trained particularly effectively. 

Let's get started with training!
If you have the right equipment, you then need to know how to train properly with it. If you don't want to visit a fitness coach every day you can find numerous, certified online training programs where you can train your back under professional guidance and do a whole range of exercises at the same time. 

After one minute:
The activity of the lower limbs stops. Almost no more calories are burned.

After 20 minutes:
Our intervertebral discs lose an enormous amount of fluid and therefore volume. This impairs their buffer function, which can lead to incorrect posture and irreparable damage in the long term.

After 60 minutes:
The blood vessels and lymph vessels of the hip only have around 50 percent of their volume, as they are squeezed while sitting. This can cause congestion or swelling in the lower body.

Prolonged inactivity means…
That the heart and brain are no longer supplied with sufficient oxygen: The metabolism slows down, brain function decreases, thinking becomes difficult and we become tired.

"Back problems can affect amateur and competitive athletes, especially in sports that involve a lot of twisting - e.g. golf, tennis or table tennis. That's why we always do 360-degree core training, i.e. upper body training in different positions. I recommend training your back a lot lying down or standing up. We do enough sitting in everyday life. This can be with your own body weight, with a mini-band or even stretching and mobilization."

In a short interview, Lukas Lai provides insights into complaints during sport and gives tips.