Beyond Weak Toronto Back Muscles: How Exercise Reverses Unseen Spine Muscle Damage
If you're dealing with chronic back pain from spinal disc problems, the source of your pain may not be what you think—it's rarely just the discs. Studies describe how erector spinae muscles—the key stabilizers running along your back—can experience fatty infiltration, a degenerative process where adipose tissue displaces healthy muscle fibers. This process diminishes your spine's natural support system and contributes to ongoing Toronto back pain.
THE HIDDEN PROBLEM: FATTY MUSCLE INFILTRATION
When you have intervertebral disc disease, your paraspinal muscles do not just get weak—they actually change at a cellular level. Research explains that "fatty infiltration of the erector spinae at the upper lumbar spine could be a breakthrough for low back pain" (1). This creates a vicious cycle: disc problems lead to muscle changes, which reduce spinal support, potentially degrading disc health over time.
It's not just one causing the other: disc problems and muscle deterioration create a vicious cycle. As noted by Jiang et al. (2), there exists a critical interaction between lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and fat infiltration of paraspinal muscles, where these conditions influence each other in ways that can perpetuate back pain and dysfunction.
EXERCISE: YOUR PATH TO MUSCLE RECOVERY
So what's the upside? Targeted exercise can reverse this process. A recent randomized controlled trial reported that combined motor control training and isolated extensor strengthening produced superior outcomes compared to general exercise approaches for improving "lumbar paraspinal muscle health" in chronic low back pain patients (3).
This approach emphasizes retraining how your core stabilizers work as a team while targeting the weakened back muscles. Unlike general exercise programs, these targeted interventions tackle the underlying muscle deterioration by restoring healthy tissue and reducing fat infiltration.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR RECOVERY
Working with your Toronto chiropractor at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre to develop an exercise program that includes both motor control training and specific strengthening exercises can turn around the muscle damage that came with your disc issues. As Rosenstein et al. (2025) demonstrated, this comprehensive approach addresses both the mechanical and neuromuscular parts of your condition, opening the door to real recovery rather than quick fixes.
Remember, it takes time, but the right exercises genuinely rebuild your back muscles and keep pain away.
CONTACT Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. John Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he details the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management combined with exercise.
