5 key stretches for lower back pain
Hi, I'm Carly, one of the physiotherapists here at Bupa.
Lower back pain is very common and with the right stretches and exercises, it can help relieve a lot of pain and tension.
So, I'm going to take you through some gentle movements. Let's get started.
We're going to start with some pelvic tilts. What I'm going to get you to do is to either lie down on the floor, sit on a chair, or on an exercise ball like this, or you can do them standing, whatever's most comfortable for you. Putting your hands on your hips. You're going to start by rolling forward so that you arch through your lower back, extending all the way, coming all the way back into that C shape in the spine, and then find in the middle, trying to exaggerate these movements so that you get the full range available to you. So forwards, backwards, find the middle. This can really help strengthen the lower core and ease lower back pain and stiffness. For these, you want to try and do about 10 to 20 reps or whatever feels comfortable.
The next thing I'm going to do is a knee to chest stretch, which can help relieve a lot of back stiffness.
So, you're going to straighten one leg, bring the other knee up to your chest gently and tucking it in and just hold and ease for about 10 seconds before changing to the other side. You want to do about 10 reps on each side, 20 in total can really help to relieve lower back stress and tension.
Next is a double leg hug. So, you're going to bring one knee up to your chest, then the other interlock the arms so that you can hug the knees to your chest, really tucking into a ball and then gently rocking from side to side to help relieve a lot of lower back tension and stress. Do this for 10 to 20 seconds or whatever feels comfortable.
Next exercise is the cat cow stretch. So, I want you to put your hands in line with your shoulders and your knees in line with your hips. And then starting on that, you're going to arch your back down and then coming back up into a complete curve, holding each for about 4 to 5 seconds, and you're wanting to do about 10 to 20 reps of each or whatever feels comfortable. This can really help relieve pressure in your lower back by flowing from flexion to extension and really get the spine moving.
Next, we're going to do Child’s pose and cobra pose, so we're going to go from extension into flexion.
So, I'm going to get you to come forwards all the way. I'm going to start in cobra pose.
So again, hands underneath your shoulders, extending through the lower back, arching up. If you can't manage to do it on your hands, I'm going to get you to drop down onto your elbows, but really arching through that lower back and then changing, coming back up down into child's pose. So really stretching through the arms and the shoulders and then alternating between these. You want to hold each position for a good 4 to 5 seconds, doing as many as feels comfortable, making sure that you go for about 10 or 20 reps each time.
Doing these exercises regularly can really help ease lower back pain and tightness. But remember, if you still get pain, please check in with your physio or doctor. See you next time.
