by Lynda Lippin

Created on: January 27, 2007   Last Updated: June 13, 2008

Does your back hurt? If you are like 80% of Americans yours probably does! Chronic back pain signals a muscular and postural imbalance that can get worse and that can leave you open to a greater injury and possibly the need for spine surgery. And these imbalances don't simply affect your back, but can cause imbalance and injury to your other joints leaving you with aching hips, knees, ankles, toes, shoulders, and elbows.

Luckily, most back pain is caused by improper spine position and that is very easy to correct in just minutes a day. TRUE CORE STRENGTH is internal strength that comes from the small internal support muscles around your pelvis and lower back. I have used these exercises with over 500 clients who all swear by them, including our guests in classes and privates at the exclusive Parrot Cay resort where I work as the resident Pilates teacher. Every single person has felt better.

So if your doctor has cleared you to exercise and you would like to get rid of your back pain, do these 6 exercises exactly as described twice per day-morning and night-for 21 days. After the 21 days you can cut down to once a day or less, but use these movement guidelines in all of your other activities and you will be right as rain.

1. Conscious Breathing
Lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet hip bone width apart, and your arms by your sides. Pay attention to your breathing and to the muscles in your torso. Feel your ribs move to the front, side, and back as you breathe-the abdominals are helping to move your ribs!

Now pay attention to your pelvis. Make sure that you are not pushing your lower back into the floor; your pubic bones should be in the same horizontal line as your hip bones-you may have an arch in your lower back and that's OK, you are supposed to!

Now as you inhale let your ribcage, abs, and pelvis relax. As you exhale contract your pelvic floor muscles as though you had to stop peeing, feel your abs wrap tighter around your ribs and waist like a corset, and feel your diaphragm under your ribcage pull up and under the ribs. Make sure again that you are not flattening your lower back into the mat. Do this conscious breathing a few times.

Put your hands on your belly and notice that now it pulls in (it may feel soft, but you are going for width and depth, not for tightness!). Repeat 10-15 times.

2. Pelvic Rocking
Add a small rocking movement of your pelvis-tipping it back as you exhale (hipbones back and tailbone up) and forward on the inhale (arching the

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