When we started on our journey to get rid of our backpain, we wanted to find ways to be able to play sports again. We were surprised to find out that there are also sports for backpain relief!

High intensity sports like basketball, squash and others will help with your overall fitness. However they are often less controlled than sports like running, swimming or rowing. In our experience, these sports are more something that your back will have to endure, rather than beneficial for the pain.

You may have heard that swimming is actually the best sport for people with backpain. Our doctors told us the same thing. We do like swimming, but it takes quite a bit of effort to go to the nearest swimming pool and change into the right gear and get going. Therefore, we were looking for something that would be easier to fit into our busy lives.

We have found that a short burst of controlled high intensity interval running (HIIT) actually loosens up our backs and helps to stay without pain. We do this twice per week, sometimes alternating between running and biking.

Our HIIT approach to sports for backpain relief is sweet, simple and short:

  1. Warm up – run for 7 minutes at 50% effort
  2. Short cool down – 30 seconds of walking/jogging
  3. Sprint – run for 1 minute at 80% effort
  4. Cool down – 30 seconds of walking/jogging
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for five times.
  6. Cool down – 3 minutes of walking/jogging and stretching

We do this in the morning, immediately after getting out of bed and before breakfast. There are multiple interval apps available for Android and Apple that will allow you to program a schedule. One of the most basic ones that we like because it will beep while you’re listening to music, is Interval Timer.

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Interested to read more about the other parts of the complete strategy to lower backpain relief? Read about self medication and nerve blocks to kill lower backpain, and how to stand up correctly from a seating position.