1. 7 Must-Do Stretches for Back Pain Relief
#1 – Reaching for the Sky
Begin in a nice and tall standing position. Weight is even on the feet. Maintain a
good alignment with the hips, shoulder and head. Bring the arms overhead and
reach a little bit for the sky. Elongate and decompress the spine and decrease the
pressure that is happening in the low back in order to give you low back relief.
Relax and repeat the movement.
Reaching for the Sky
This is an excellent mobility exercise that you can do anywhere, especially if you
have been sitting for a long period of time and you had increased tension in your
lower back. It is easy for you to get up and go through with this exercise. You can
easily do this at work if your work involves a lot of sitting.
2. Perform 1 set of 5 reps in a smooth controlled movement with a good reach at the
top. With the reach, you can hold it for 2-5 seconds. The intensity is light. You are
looking at decompressing and elongating the spine. Roughly it falls into a mobility
exercise as you try to improve the movement of the spine and also decrease the
pressure happening on the spine.
#2 – Standing Back Arch
Begin in a nice and tall standing position. Weight is even on the feet. Maintain a
good alignment with the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and head. Bring the arms
overhead and arch back a little bit and extend the lower back. Go back down
to the start then repeat the movement.
A lot of times, 95% of people find that arching the back provides them relief or
decreases their back pain. But the other 5% of people do not find relief and it and
irritates things for them. If this exercise irritates things for you, then do not do it.
Standing Back Arch
3. Perform 1 set of 5 reps in a smooth controlled movement with a good stop of 2-3
seconds at the end position. The intensity is low or light. This mobility exercise works
on improving the movement in the lower back. This is also a great exercise that
you can do anywhere especially after sitting for a long period of time or if you sit
a lot at your work. Combining the first and second exercises will give you a lot of
benefit to relieve your back pain.
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#3 – Side Bending
Begin in a nice and tall standing position. Maintain a nice alignment with the
head, shoulders, hips, knees and feet. Increase your stance a little bit to get more
balance. Put the arms overhead interlacing the fingers then bend from one side
to the other side.
Side bending is working on stretching out the tight muscles on the outer part of the
back and working on the mobility of the whole spine, which will help on back pain
relief.
Side Bending
4. Perform 1 set of 3-5 reps each way in a smooth controlled movement with a good
stop of 2-3 seconds at the end position. The intensity is light. We are working on
stretching and mobility.
You can combine this exercise with the first two exercises. It does not require any
equipment. If you have been sitting for a long period of time or if you sit at work,
you can combine the three exercises to help give you back pain relief at work.
#4 – 90/90 Hip Flexor Stretch
Start with kneeling on the floor in a 90/90 position. Back leg and front leg are in 90
degree with ankle, knee and hips. Tighten the abdominal area and bring the hips
forward. Contract the glute as you bringing things forward. Stretch the front of the
hip and front of the thigh and hold to that position. Maintain a good alignment
with the rest of the body; hip, shoulders and head. The leg behind the hip will
target the hip flexors and one of the quadriceps muscles.
90/90 Hip Flexor Stretch
5. This is an effective stretching and flexibility exercise that helps in relieving hip pain,
knee pain and back pain.
Perform 1 set of 2 reps on each side alternating back and forth with 20 seconds
hold at the end position. The intensity is light with light stretch. You will get more
benefit doing a light stretch than a stronger stretch.
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#5 – Rocking Knees Side-To-Side
Lie on your back on the floor. Put arms to the side and relax the upper body. Bend
the knees and then drop the knees halfway down to one side and then to the
other side.
With this exercise, we are lightly working on the mobility in the lower back and
hips and stretching out the muscles in the hips.
If you are not getting much of an intensity or you can handle more intensity, you
can separate the feet with a wider stance and go through the same movement,
dropping the knees to the sides focusing on rotation in the hip and this will
intensify the mobility that you are getting in the lower back, pelvis area and the
rotation the hips.
Rocking Knees Side-To-Side
Perform 1 set of 5 reps on each side alternating back and forth with 1-2 seconds
hold at the end position. Keep the motions in a nice smooth controlled movement.
The intensity is light. You are working on the mobility in the lower back area and in
the pelvis as well as doing a dynamic stretch in the hip rotators.
6. #6 – Rotating the Legs In and Out
Lie on your back on the floor. Put arms to the side as you relax the upper body.
Rotate the thighs; bringing the legs out and bringing the legs in and continually
dynamically stretching the rotators of the hips.
If you are not feeling too much, you can separate the feet a little bit more that will
help in targeting things a little bit differently in the hip and hip rotators.
This exercise is a light dynamic stretch in the hip rotators. It is normal that you feel
a little bit of a clunk or more movement happening in your hip joint or pelvis area.
Rotating the Legs In and Out
Perform 1 set of 5 reps each way alternating back and forth. Keep the motions in
smooth controlled movement with 1-2 seconds hold at the end position. The
intensity is light.
Read Also: What is The Best Stretch To Do If You Sit All Day?
#7 – Open and Close
Lie on your side on the floor. Hips and knees are bent. Put arms out front. Open up
the left arm and bring the left hand to the floor with eyes following the hand. Hold
the position for 1-2 seconds. Go back to the start and repeat the movement.
This is an excellent mobility exercise especially in the mid back area targeting the
movement of rotation in the mid back and low back areas.
7. Open and Close
Perform 1 set of 5 reps on each side. Keep the motions in smooth controlled
movement with a good stop the end position for 1-2 seconds. The intensity is light.
You are working on the mobility in the mid back area.
Give these 7 stretching exercises a go as they will definitely help relieve your back
pain.
If you want to overcome your Low Back Pain Flare Up so you can go
move your back around without worrying if the pain will come
back, then check out the Low Back Pain Solved program.