The source of lower back pain can be hard to trace. Sometimes it’s a sudden, jarring injury. Other times it’s due to long-term over- or underuse.
Often the simple act of sitting (which most office workers do for an estimated 10 hours a day) is to blame for lower back pain, particularly if it emanates from around L1-L5, the vertebrae between your rib cage and your pelvis.
Unfortunately, strength and flexibility only do so much to prevent it.
“There are people who can twist themselves into a pretzel who have back pain because they lack endurance,” says neurophysiologist Chad Waterbury, author of Huge In a Hurry. “And there are people who are very strong who get back pain because they lack mobility, especially in the hamstrings, core, glutes, and hip muscles.”
The key to preventing lower back pain, says Waterbury, is building a combination of moves that improve your mobility and endurance so you can get some relief from the lower back pain you have — and avoid more of it in the future.
That’s exactly what the moves below — broken into three escalating levels of intensity — are designed to do.
A few quick caveats: If your pain is intense (read: getting out of bed feels like you’re going one circle deeper into Dante’s Inferno), get cleared by a doctor before doing any type of exercise—these moves included.
If given the OK, avoid anything that causes or exacerbates pain in your lower back. This includes twisting or bending forcefully and sitting for hours on end.
If you can, get up from your chair every 20 minutes, or better still, get a desk with a stand-up option.
If you feel pain doing the exercises below, shorten the range of motion or perform the moves more slowly.
Still hurting?
Follow the “if it hurts” modifications alongside each move.
And if none of these changes help, save that move for another day. Remember you’re trying to alleviate your lower back pain, not make it worse!
14 Exercises to Help Relieve Lower Back Pain
LEVEL I: When your pain is acute, use these easy moves to gently mobilize — increase the pain-free range of motion — in your back.
1. Child’s Pose
Gently relieves tension in the lower back.
Source: 21 Day Fix, Yoga Fix
To Do This Exercise:
1. On a mat or blanket, kneel down, and, if possible, sit on your heels.
2. Lean forward, extending your arms in front of you, and rest your head on the floor in front of you.
3. Hold the position for 30 seconds to two minutes.
If It Hurts:
Cross your arms on the floor and rest on your forearms.
2. Cat/Cow
Easy stretch for forward and backward movement along the entire spine.
Source: 21 Day Fix, Pilates Fix
To Do This Exercise:
1. Assume an all-fours position, hands under shoulders, knees under hips, back in a natural arch, head in alignment with your spine.
2. On an exhale, slowly round your back towards the ceiling, lowering your head fully towards the floor.
3. Reverse the movement.
4. Keeping your arms straight, inhale as you arch your back, bringing your chest and belly towards the floor, your shoulder blades together, and your head up.
If It Hurts:
Reduce the range of motion and move more slowly.
3. Front-to-Back-Shoulder Squeeze
Increases range of motion in shoulder blades, helps reduce slouching.
Source: Ho’Ala ke Kino
To Do This Exercise:
1. Assume an athletic posture with your feet in a shoulder-width-and-a-half stance.
2. Keeping your back straight throughout the movement, cross your left hand over your right, press your palms together, straighten your arms, and point your fingertips towards the floor.
3. Press your palms together and round your upper back as if trying to touch the fronts of your shoulders together in front of you.
4. Hold for ten seconds.
5. Unclasp your hands, then interlace your fingers behind your back, straighten your arms and lift your chest high.
6. Hold for 10 seconds.
7. Alternate these two positions a total of 3-4 times.
If It Hurts:
Don’t stretch as deeply.
4. Clam
Supports healthy hip movement, which takes pressure off the lower back during everyday activities.
Source: Total Body Solution, Lower Back
To Do This Exercise:
1. Lie on your left side with your knees bent 90 degrees in front of you and your feet stacked.
2. Keeping your feet together and your hips vertical, lift your right knee as far away from your left as possible.
3. Hold for a moment, return to the starting position, and repeat for 15 reps.
4. Turn onto your right side and perform 15 reps.
If It Hurts:
Make sure your lower back doesn’t twist throughout the movement and limit the move to a pain-free range of motion.
5. Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
Restores proper positioning of the hips, taking tension off the lower back.
Source: The Master’s Hammer and Chisel, Hammer Conditioning
To Do This Exercise:
1. Kneel on a mat or pad and step your right foot flat on the floor in front of you.
2. Keeping your torso upright and your back in its natural arch, lunge forward towards your right foot.
3. Press the top of your left foot into the floor behind you.
4. Hold the stretched position for 30–45 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.
If It Hurts:
Contract your abs and flatten the lower back as much as possible throughout the stretch. Also, try shifting your hips back and coming out of the stretch a bit.
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