Exercises For Lower Back Pain

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a fantastic week and are embracing the challenges you face head on. For today’s topic, I want to talk about exercises you can do to improve or even heal your lower back pains. This is something most working people have experienced before, and it is also common among students. In short, if you spend a lot of time sitting down, chances are you will have suffered from back pains before.

Do you sit down for breakfast before rushing off to work? Do you spend hours at your desk sitting down working or in meetings? After work do you sit down for dinner before plopping yourself on the sofa to unwind? If so, you should realise that the hours you spend sitting down shorten your hamstrings, as well as iliopsoas – these are muscles in your inner hip that are needed for walking, running and standing. Shortening these causes much strain on the lower back, resulting in pain.

Even if you are an active person, exercises or sports that requires constant jumping, running or rapid movements will end up straining your lower back. Without warming up or proper stretching beforehand, you may suffer injuries that can be quite painful.

So what can be done?

This is perhaps the most well-known yoga pose, but it is certainly not easy! You must be lying flat on your stomach to being with. Use your forearms to lift yourself up with your elbows lined up directly beneath your shoulders. Use the top part of your feet and your palms to push yourself up and breathe through the sensations in your lower back – this is the blood flowing into the area.

You should be lying flat on your back, before bending your knee towards your chest. Then place a towel or cloth (or anything to reel in your foot) around the base of your foot. Try to straighten your leg to the ceiling as much as possible, while pressing out using both heels. If there is pain in your lower back, bend your left knee and put the base of your foot on the ground. Switch to the other foot after the 3 to 5 minutes.

Place yourself next to a wall, lifting up your legs and moving in all the way so that your buttocks are on the wall itself. Your legs should be placed on the wall as per the picture below. What this pose does is to relax your lower back muscles, draining fluid from your feet and ankles. This yoga position is best after a strenuous exercise session, and is also extremely beneficial after you have been sat down for an extended period of time, such as after work or a flight.

All photos from breakingmuscle.com