I don’t have a “bad back” - but the occasions when it is stiff and uncomfortable - I have found that riding really helps loosen it up, and I feel better - more so than other exercises, my usual, hiking, elliptical and walking tend to make it worse - but not riding.
sciatica. yes, but, not general, everywhwhere arthritisthritis
It depends on the source of the pain, I, too, found it very:) helpful for sciatica; but, would imagine that would not be true for all back pain:no:
[QUOTE=Carol Ames;8060442]
It depends on the source of the pain, I found it very:) helpful for sciatica; but, would imagine that would not be true for all back pain:no:[/QUOTE]
Yes, this. I have arthritis in my lower spine and I get various pains including sciatic nerve pain, and riding makes it SO MUCH BETTER. Sometimes it’s hard to get ON because of the pain, but once I’m up and we get moving? I dunno, the right stuff tightens up and the tight stuff loosens to follow the movement of the horse, and it just gets better so quickly and then the improvement lasts all day.
(Alas, I have not figured out how to get insurance to pay to let me keep a horse in my backyard in the middle of the city so I could do therapeutic riding every day… There’s a big soccer field with a walking track right up the street, though! 
)
I would say that if you are actively discouraged from riding, talk to your doctor about why and ask for details - sometimes doctors don’t have a proper understanding of what riding involves and so will change their recommendation, other times they do have a darn good reason for it. If you have a major problem that you are trying to manage (I mean like possibly you previously broke your spine or something? My arthritis is not a minor problem but it’s also afaik not doing anything particularly exciting or worrying, either) then seen if you can find someone in your area who actually does hippotherapy. Even if you don’t meet the qualifications for the program, someone who is trained in that area should probably be able to talk to you and possibly liaise with your doctor about benefits and risks and may be willing to help you come up with a program you can use on your own horse - perhaps they’d suggest starting out with a minimum of X minutes of walking for a specific reason, for example, that sort of thing.
I do personally kind of wonder if sometimes it depends on an individual’s history, too. I don’t ride regularly now at all, but I did take lessons for several years at a dressage barn that was obsessive (the old German style obsessive) about proper posture and using your seat and so on. My seat now probably objectively sucks, but it is entirely possible that we maintain some degree of muscle memory such that someone who has a riding background will respond differently physically than someone who has not ridden much or at all. Could be an interesting study for someone to do, I suppose - does past exercise history inform what will be effective post-injury or post-illness rehabilitation and treatment options?
I , too found it helped sciatica, though not the arthritis which is everywhere;
Perhaps a" Centered Riding" instructor could give you some exercises to get you balanced over your seatbones and allowing your other joints to move freely:)
Riding helped my lower back and sciatic nerve pain when I just rode and did not have a trainer constantly insisting I keep my leg in the “right” position and who apparently never could remember that holding my leg “correctly” was impossible for me because of the pain it caused. What she did teach me, that helped, though, was not to hollow my back (old forward-seat rider here!) but how to sit properly, and that helped my back tremendously. I was even able to learn proper sitting trot rather than just non-rising trot!
[QUOTE=Carol Ames;8061895]
I , too found it helped sciatica, though not the arthritis which is everywhere;
Perhaps a" Centered Riding" instructor could give you some exercises to get you balanced over your seatbones and allowing your other joints to move freely:)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, my ankle arthritis in particular can be not super fond of riding. I try to drop my stirrups every so often and HAVE to do it for a moment before dismounting or being reintroduced to the ground is Deeply Unpleasant. (Even with a mounting block so it don’t have far to go - ankles just don’t like the transition, period.)
Knees, it seems to depend a lot on the saddle, so presumably is position related - saddle that is a bad fit for me puts my leg in a bad place? And hands do get stiff, too, from holding the reins. But the back improvement is so significant - I hate nerve pain. I can put up with arthritis ache much better than nerve pain.
My doctor actually told me to keep riding!
I have severe arthritis with some wicked bone spurs in the L4-L6 area. I went through a period where the spurs would “catch” and I couldn’t straighten up. Physical therapy using balance balls to strengthen my core, some ultasound to help relax the muscle spasm and aid in reducing the inflammation and riding did the trick. :yes:. Sometimes my back hurts, but it hasn’t locked up on me again. Doctor told that riding kept things moving and the more I could do the better. My mother - who hates horses- is convinced that I was lying thru my teeth. :no:
I found PT to be a bit funny because the therapists would all gather round suggesting weird combinations of exercises to get me off balance so I’d work harder. At one point, I was sitting on a ball, with both feet on seperate balls, wiggling a bow like thing in one hand while throwing and catching another ball with the other. They couldn’t understand how I was keeping my balance…until I told them I was USED to sitting on something moving…a horse! :lol: Have to admit all those exercises did wonders for my core.:yes:
