A few back pain exercises can make a world of difference!
Your back is a complex structure made up of bones, muscles, nerves, and soft tissues. When all these components work together smoothly, your back function is optimal and you can run, jump, and play with ease.
Unfortunately, all too often, one or more of these components get misaligned, are too weak for the impact or exercise you’re doing, or suffer injury. The result: back pain.
Back pain exercises are intended to specifically target whatever is causing your pain—be it muscles or joints. By doing these exercises, you can strengthen the muscles, loosen up stiff joints, and re-align the spinal column. You’ll find that doing them will make you far more mobile and allow you to move free of pain.
9 Back Pain Exercises and Stretches To Include In Your Workout Every Day
Forward Bends – This is a classic stretch that helps to lengthen the spine and loosen the tight spinal muscles. Don’t make the mistake of trying to reach too far just to touch your toes or the floor. You need to feel what’s right for your specific range of motion. Push your joints just a little bit, but not to the point where you feel pain. Just bend forward and let your upper body hang to elongate your spine and really stretch the spinal muscles.
Knee-to-Chest – If you’re feeling sciatica pain in your lower legs, this stretch can be an amazing way to loosen up the muscles and joints. Lying on your back and bringing your knee to your chest will pull on the hamstrings, glutes, and lower spinal muscles, helping to improve your range of motion and decreasing tension on your lower back.
Seated Rotational Stretches – If you spend a lot of time sitting in a chair, this is the stretch for you! Not only will it help to loosen up muscles that have stiffened over hours of sitting, but it can work the core muscles and work the lower back muscles to strengthen them. All you have to do is plant your feet solidly on the floor, and without moving your hips, rotate your upper body first to the right, then to the left. Do this 15-20 times per side, and you’ll feel a whole lot better as you get back to work!
Lying Bent Knee Spiral Twist – To strengthen and stretch your lower back, this exercise is an amazing choice! Simply lie on your back with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle to your hips (legs elevated), and twist your head to the right while lowering your knees to the left. Go as low as you can, then come back up and repeat on the other side. You’ll find that this can stretch your neck and shoulders as well as your lower back. The more you work on this, the lower your legs will go until they can touch the ground. That’s some pretty amazing flexibility, and will drastically decrease the risk of lower back injury.
Partial Crunches – Partial crunches may be aimed at your abdominal muscles, but you’ll find that they also help to develop lower back strength, too. In fact, it targets the abdominal muscles that help to move your lower back (yes, both the anterior and posterior hemispheres often engage at the same time when you move) to enable smoother, more stable movement.
Bird Dog – This exercise targets your lower back, abs, obliques (side muscle), glutes, and hamstrings for a highly effective core workout. It will do wonders to strengthen and stabilize your lower back muscles, giving you the power you need to stay steady during upper and lower body exercises. Best of all, because it works with your bodyweight, you can find the rep range that feels right and gives you a proper workout without risking injury.
Glute Bridge – The Glute Bridge targets your glutes (butt muscles), but also engage your lower back muscles. Together, the two form the “platform” that makes the exercise work. It also helps to strengthen your hips, abs, and hamstrings, making your lower back stronger overall. You’ll love how much stronger you feel after doing this workout for a few months, and it will drastically strengthen your posterior chain muscles.
Lying Lateral Leg Lifts – When you move, it’s not just your lower back that does the work. Your hips also have to engage, working with your lower back to move your body from side to side. It’s vital that you strengthen your hip muscles in order to reduce the strain on your lower back. Lying lateral leg lifts target the hip abductor muscles (which pull your legs outward), encouraging better pelvic support and decreasing strain on your lower back. It’s an amazing exercise to target your mobility and balance.
Downward Dog – This Yoga pose is both a stretch and a strengthening exercise for your lower back! Focusing on the stretch will help to elongate your spine and loosen the tight muscles of your glutes and hamstrings, helping you to have better lower body mobility. To give your lower back a workout, lift your legs one at a time, using your butt, hamstrings, and lower back to raise them high into the air. This movement will change your life and make you exponentially more flexible!
Learn Back Pain Exercises and More with Back on Track System!
If you’re worried about back pain, you’ll want to give our Back on Track System a try. Not only does this program help you understand everything you need to know about back pain, but it will teach you a unique, highly effective breathing technique that will revolutionize your understanding about treating back pain. Go through the course, do your daily back pain exercises, and you have our guarantee that you’ll come out the other side feeling like a million bucks.
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