Here Is How You Can Fix This Type Of Back Pain

Are you suffering from intermittent, or occasional lower back pain? Or maybe you experience chronic back pain? There are stretching exercises that can fix some types of lower back muscle tension pain.

Fixing Lower back Pain With Simple Stretches Anyone Can Do

At some point in our lives most of us are going to get some form of low back pain. For those of us who are actually quite lucky that back pain will turn into just a very short episode, a very acute but quickly passing.

For those of us who are not quite so lucky though, that low back pain will become continual. Chronic back pain is really anything that’s longer than maybe six months or more. In this video I’m going to talk to you mainly about low back pain that’s chronic and what exercises you can do that might help you to get over it. Or prevent a small pain to become worse.

One thing I’ve noticed over time is that people with lower back pain are often very tight in the areas surrounding the area of pain. So in terms of lower back it’s often their erector spinae the muscles going alongside the spine their gluteal and hip muscles and also their hamstrings. A lack of core strength sets the stage for most lower muscle group cramps and imbalances.

On top you’ve got the erector spinae, below you’ve got the gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus. The hamstrings and then lower down into the calf. These are all really influential muscle groups.

Many people are experiencing lower back pain because they are stressed by tight hamstrings. Also lower back pain happens, it starts with disc stress. Then, as a way of protecting the body adjacent muscles get tightened up. That’s why the hamstrings, the buttocks and hips seem to be the source of the pain when the are not.

Either way when you’re treating lower back pain I think it’s really important to focus not only on the lower back but also the areas above. So I’m going to show you now a few simple exercises for your hips and buttocks and hamstrings that you can do to start getting more flexible and looser in those areas to hopefully start freeing up your lower back.

The Hanging Spinal Stretch

The first thing that you’re going to do is to hang off of a doorframe or a bar at the gym. Hanging from a bar or a doorframe is safe for pretty much all types of back pain so this is why I suggest you start with this one first. Make sure you don’t damage the door doing this

The reason why you’re going to hang is because in your spine the hanging is going to create a pulling sensation on the intervertebral discs. So if you have a disc bulge or a disc prolapse then that pulling is going to almost create a suction type mechanism which could potentially pull some of that disc prolapse or disc bulge back in and thus reducing the extent of the disc prolapse.

So reach up grab a bar drop your knees down and just allow your lower back and abdominal region to relax and from this position just continue to breathe but allowing your pelvis to drop. Another really simple but effective stretch and mobilization is what they call in yoga the cat and cow you’re going to start by coming down onto your hands and knees place your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees are underneath your hips so you’re in an all fours position.

Make sure your spine is neutral so it’s neither overly flexed or overly extended. Once your comfortable in that position take a deep breath in and as you breathe in look up towards the ceiling and push your belly down so that your lower back is bending.

Once you’ve taken another deep breath in breathe out and as you breathe out drop your head down lift your lower spine as much as you can almost like someone’s got a piece of string on your back and is lifting it up once you’ve fully exhaled take another deep breath in and as you do that lift your head up again pushing your belly down.

The reason I think this is a good exercise to do is because it causes movement throughout the lower back which makes the muscles of your lower back the erector spinae contract and relax which helps to push blood through the muscles and allows better drainage of the blood and any inflammation helps to push it away.

I suggest doing this about five to ten times really slowly and just focusing on the speed of your breath rather than trying to get through the movement. The next really important stretch is for your hips and buttocks and you can do this while you’re at the office or at home or anywhere that’s seated.

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Stamina Inline Traction Control System for Spinal Decompression and Back Stretch Relief Without Inversion

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Sitting Lower Hamstring  Stretch

You can also do a version of this when you’re at work. Now to start, as you’re sat down on a chair and perch on the edge of your chair, put one leg on top of the other knee, hold your shin with both hands and then use your elbow to push that knee down.

If you want to increase that stretch you can lean forwards into it but most people will find that this is enough just by putting a hand or an elbow on that top knee and pushing down. One thing I would just point out to you guys is don’t put your foot on your knee because that’s going to put a lot of stress through your ankle which will make your ankle ligaments start to become over stretched.

So make sure that ankle is well over your planted knee. From here grab your knee, lift your knee up and over so now you should be feeling a stretch through your buttocks. When I do these stretches on myself I like to do each stretch for about 20 seconds alternating into the other one about 20 seconds, alternate back and keep repeating every other 20 seconds.

I find that this helps to keep it a bit looser almost like it’s pumping blood through the area and almost a bit like exercising it rather than just purely stretching it.

Sitting Hamstring Press

If you’re a bit more nimble or you’re at the gym or you’re at home I find this one actually is a lot stronger.

Cross your legs then with one leg crossed on top of your bottom leg. Notice how your knee tends to spring upward, that’s due to your hamstring. Then either using your hand or your elbow push that knee down and hold. After about 20 seconds grab your knee and pull it up and over the other way.

Now some people find that this stretch is too hard to get into so one way of working around it is to put one leg straight across your other leg over and then do the same thing. When it comes to stretching your hamstrings quite often you’ll see runners in particularly doing it wrong and what people tend to do is have the leg straight and then flexion through their spine so they try to bend their whole bodies which puts a lot of strain through the nerves at the back of the the back of the legs but also puts a lot of strain through the the lower back as well.

Here’s Another Stretching Relief Aid Tool

IdealStretch – Original Hamstring, Leg, and Knee Stretching Device

Gives you that extra reach or control in case you have mobility problems or can’t grip well enough siting or laying.