Hula hooping: the latest treatment for back pain and weak pelvic floor muscles

Recommend a fun and effective treatment for back pain and incontinence to your patients.

A new exercise craze has hit the US and UK, with women and men taking up hula hooping to beat the bulge, but it can also help to treat lower back pain and weak pelvic floor muscles.

Your patients don’t even need to go in search of a hula hoop, as those with a Wii Fit and balance board can enjoy the hula hooping game from their front room.

Hula hooping focuses on core stability, strengthening the muscles, which can help to encourage correct posture and relieve back pain, strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, and work the abdominal muscles.

Dancing and arm movements can also be included in hula hooping to make the exercise more versatile and work the core stability muscles more.

Recommend your patients to incorporate hula hooping into their treatments for back pain and pelvic floor problems, and you could give them a fun and interesting rehabilitation treatment.

You should ensure any patients who want to start hula hooping continue their treatments and ensure they are not damaging their rehabilitation by doing so.

Advice patients with back pain to wear back supports, such as the Vulkan Back Support, to provide additional stability to the back, prevent injury and encourage correct positioning.

Also advise your patients to use a lumbar roll to encourage correct posture, we recommend the McKenzie Original Roll and the McKenzie Cervical Roll.

Those patients with pelvic floor problems should continue their pelvic floor exercises, as well as any other treatment. You could also recommend they try out Aquaflex Cones or the Pelvic Floor Educator, which they can use in the comfort of their own home.

If your patients need more information, recommend our selection of books, CDs and videos, such as Treat Your Own Back and Women’s Waterworks.

Lower back pain affects 3.5m people each year in the UK. It is also the second most common reason for work absence and costs the UK economy £5bn a year in sick days.

One in four women suffer from incontinence with 6m adults suffering from it in the UK, however, 80% of incontinence problems can be cured completely.

The pelvic floor muscles can be weakened through pregnancy and child birth, menopause and general ageing among many other reasons.

Although hula hooping is safe, remind your patients to seek a fully qualified doctor’s advice if they suffer from back pain or are pregnant.