Exercises for lower back pain

I'm so relieved that my lower back pain from the previous week has let up that I wanted to share the exercises that seemed to do the trick. In about a day and a half, the pain was almost gone completely after being pretty severe.

I was under the delusion that my new workout routine of running almost every day since the new year, working up to four miles at a time, had solved any remaining back problems from years gone by.

I guess not. Two days using a weed eater at an angle to double as an edger really pulled a muscle, crushed a nerve, or something. I've had this kind of back problem before, and after trying chiropractic unsuccessfully, was not about to waste the money on it this time.

However, I did remember a few of the exercises recommended by the chiropractors and back pain books I consulted several years ago after the first flare up. I simply did these stretching exercises faithfully several times a day, and the pain was almost complete gone by the next day.

Exercises that help lower back pain

I do this exact sequence for about two or three minutes total: 

1. Lay flat on your back. Simply straighten your back out while laying on the floor.
   
2. Grab your legs and arch your body into a ball. Your lower back muscles will initially be tense as you tighten up into this position, but gently relax them so your lower back ends up flat on the floor, while your upper back is still pulled up in the air. Do this for twenty or thirty seconds.
3. Roll over to your stomach and push up your upper body. First, push your upper body up onto your elbows. If your lower back is in severe pain, this will hurt at first, but gradually feel better as the muscles stretch. Your muscles will start tense, but try to gently relax them. You'll find the pain lightening up dramatically as the muscles relaxes.
   Second, as your pain let you extend the curvature of the arch, get off your elbows and use the palms of your hands. This will be very difficult at first, but the more your try to stretch those muscles, the easier it will get. Trust me, it's worth doing this.
4. Get onto your knees and "bow down" flat on the floor with arms stretched forward. This will straighten those lower back muscles out again, and it will start feeling significantly better.
5. Get up on your hand and knees and arch your back like a cat. This is difficult to explain correctly, but try this. First, straighten your arms, with your palms about eighteen inches in front of your knees, and your head directly between your two hands. Next, move your whole body forward so your head is six to twelve inches in front of your hands. This should flatten the pelvis area and thus straighten out the lower back muscles.

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