Stretches For Back Pain – 6 Muscle-Strengthening And Pain-Relieving Exercises

6 Comments

The path to a back-pain-free life is usually a process and one very important part of this process is maintaining muscle strength and flexibility, particularly in the core or stabilizing muscles. Stretching is a great way of ensuring that your muscles are ’primed’ for further exercise, but if exercise is too painful at the moment they are also a great way of retaining flexibility for when the time comes that you are able to do light exercise.

These gentle stretching exercises can also be a great source of relief anytime your back pain is wearing you down. As always please consult your physician before starting out on any exercise program.

Lumbar Rotation

Slowly rotate knees from side to side in pain-free range of motion. Allow lower back to rotate. Repeat 10 times per set, 1 session per day.

Press-Up

Press upper body upward into position shown, keeping hips in contact with floor. Keep lower back and buttocks relaxed. Repeat 10 times, 1 session per day.

External Rotators

Clasp hands around knee and gently press it toward opposite shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds. Feel stretch in buttocks and outside of the hip. Repeat with other leg. Repeat 3 times, 1 session per day.

Active Hamstring Stretch

Support back of thigh behind knee. Starting with knee bent, attempt to straighten knee until a comfortable stretch is felt in back of thigh. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times with each leg, do 1 session per day.

Internal Rotators

Gently pull foot and knee toward shoulder, rotating at hip. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat with other leg. Repeat 3 times, do 1 session per day.

Hip Flexor Stretch

Slowly move hips forward while keeping trunk upright until a stretch is felt in the front of the thigh. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times, do 1 session per day.

For more helpful back pain tips and tricks please see 101 Back Pain Tips….

Posted inBack Pain by Craig 6 Comments

How to Get Rid of Back Pain says:

October 20, 2011 at 1:25 am

The best way to manage and prevent back pain is through exercise. These exercises/stretching are the ones actually done when a masseur is massaging you.

Cathy says:

January 9, 2012 at 2:19 pm

I do exercises regularly for back pain as well. Stretching definitely helps. I recently took up yoga, which seems to be helping. I have also been doing some investigating on mattresses and back pain. It seems that lack of support can create a slew of back problems. I found the information on http://www.qmattresses.com. From what I can tell, it seems that all of these really soft mattresses on the market aren’t offering enough support. Even worse is the fact that so many mattresses start sagging such a short time after buying them and then they don’t offer the right support. After reading it, I am definitely adding a new mattress to my list of ways to get rid of my back pain.

Greg Cowart says:

January 25, 2012 at 12:46 am

My L5-S1 is bulging degenerated disc. Decompression did not really work so I am looking for other solutions. Stretching helps but only relieves the pain for a short period of time. My back doctor wants to shave about 20% of my disc down but I am not ready to do that yet.

I have been looking for other surgical solutions but I am not sure what is the least evasive.

kathleen says:

January 31, 2012 at 1:55 pm

I’m a firm believer that sitting for long periods of time is one reason so many of us are in back pain. You don’t have to stop sitting completely, but there are ways to minimize the damage. I think stretching exercise is one of the best solution for this .