The majority of people experience lower back pain at some point in their life. Pain is how the body communicates that there is an imbalance that requires your attention.
Below, I’ll introduce you to 5 fantastic postural therapy exercises to get you immediate relief from lower back pain. The great thing about these postural exercises is that you can do them anywhere and at any time.
We’ll also look at the possible reasons your back keeps hurting. It’s important to learn the reason behind the pain otherwise you’ll always be triggering pain and only addressing the symptoms.
The best way to eliminate lower back pain is to fix the root cause and maintain muscle balance. Exercises and stretches to help you get relief are great, but unless you know the reason behind the pain, you’re stuck in that cycle.
Whether the pain is acute or chronic, it’s always recommended you consult with your physician to rule out any serious causes.
The majority of the time, the root cause is a combination of postural and muscular imbalances. Meaning… weak and underactive muscles that are not providing enough stability and support around the spine and joints.
In addition, most people with back pain fear to exercise because they’re scared to make the pain worse. Yes, it’s important to do the exercises right to avoid injury. However, low impact strengthening exercises are generally safe. You can always take a break at any time if you feel more pressure.
Being sedentary is not a solution. Further weakening your muscular system will lead to more pain, an unstable spine, and joints.
I have step-by-step tutorials on how to fix each of these imbalances, I’ll link them all below the exercises. I want to list the lower back pain relief exercises first, then I’ll also list the other resources for you…
Alright…let’s get to the exercises. I’ll include a description of the exercises and what you can expect from each:
This is my most favorite stretch. I can’t get enough of how much relief I get after this exercise. Especially after a long day working on the computer.
Here’s how to do it:
How to do it:
How to do it: Releasing your hip flexors will help you restore your posture and release tension from your lower back and hips. As you get into that lunge and stretch position, you want to contract your glutes and tilt your hips backward to stretch the psoas muscle (biggest hip flexor muscle)
How to do it: This is an amazing exercise to restore spinal curvature. I suggest you start slowly and move up as your flexibility increases.
How to do it: You can do this without the stability ball. Adding the ball will challenge your core and the core and glutes love to train together. As you lift your arm and leg, keep your core tight and focus on a point ahead of you on the floor to keep your balance. If you lose focus you will lose stability. Do 10 alternating repetitions. Stretch your arm and leg out to elongate your back muscles.
These 5 exercises can be done anytime throughout the day. If you spent a lot of time sitting and driving, try to do these at least twice a day. Once mid-morning and again mid-afternoon. You can also repeat the stretches before bed to relax your muscles.
Chronic back pain can be so frustrating but it just requires some patience. You need to be mindful and know what causes the pain. Look at what you’re doing right before you start to feel pain. What are the triggers? which exercises or movements are leading to pain? You need to know these so you can fix your movement patterns and avoid these triggers.