Lower Back Stretches:

Kick Lower Back Pain with a Stretching Routine

• Pelvic Tilt
  Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Tighten your buttocks and abdomen slightly and flat the small of your back against the floor. Hold for a count of five. Relax and repeat a number of times. This is a gently exercise, one of the best lower back stretches and warm-ups, and lots of repetition is good.

• Cat and Cow
  Begin on all fours, hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Inhale and slowly drop your stomach toward the floor, arching your lower back slightly and directing your eyes upward. Pause. (This is the "cow" position--like a swaybacked bovine.)

  Exhale and slowly round your back, tucking your tailbone and your chin. Pause. (This is the "cat" position--like an angry cat arching its back.)

  Move slowly back and forth between these two positions, pausing with each pose. Repeat at least several times--another of the best lower back stretches that you can do many times with good results.

• Child's Pose
  Sit on the ground with your knees folded under you. Slowly lean forward, folding your torso over your knees. Rest your forehead on the ground. You can either rest your arms extended on the ground in front of you, or allow them to rest by your sides, pointing back. This should feel very good. Allow yourself to rest in this position for as long as you like.

• Cobra or Sphinx
  Lie flat on your stomach, with your forehead on the ground. Arms are bent and palms are on the ground under the shoulders. Push downward with arms as you raise your upper torso and gently arch your back. Hold for 3 full breaths before slowly bringing the upper torso back down to the ground.

  Be careful with this one, especially at first. While it's one of the best lower back stretches once you're conditioned to it, it can really tweak you at first.

  If it's too much for you, you might want to try a modified Cobra, the "Sphinx," in which you leave your forearms on the ground while raising just your upper torso, keeping your pelvis on the floor and gently arching your back.

• Lying Spinal Twist
  Lie on your back, with your arms stretched out to the sides. Your knees should be bent, your feet flat on the ground. Bring your knees up close to your chest. Keeping your knees together, slowly lower then to one side, as close to the floor as possible. At the same time, turn your head to look toward the opposite shoulder. If your knees are resting on the floor, you can rest in this position for a little while. If your legs could not reach the floor, you will probably just want to pause briefly.

  Next, slowly return your knees to an upright position, close to your chest. Slowly lower your knees to the other side, at the same time turning your head toward the opposite shoulder. Rest or pause.

  Repeat this sequence several times.

• Knee to Chest
  Lying on your back, with your knees bent and your feet flat on floor, grasp your left leg behind the knee or at the back of thigh and pull your knee towards your chest. Hold for a count of ten. Switch sides and repeat several times.

• Knees to Chest
  Lying on your back, knees up and feet flat on the floor, hug both knees toward your chest. Hold them there for at least 15 seconds. This feels really good to me so I tend to stay in it for a while.

• Hamstring Stretch
  Sitting on the floor, extend your right leg. Place your left foot against your right knee. Lean forward, keeping your back straight, reaching for your right foot until you feel a slight pull on your hamstrings (at the back of your thigh). Hold for ten to twenty seconds,then switch sides. Repeat on both sides.

• Piriformis Stretch
  Sitting in a chair, place your left ankle over your right leg, just above the knee and lean forward. You should feel a slight pull in your buttocks or at the outer top of your thigh. If this hurts your knee, don't do it. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.
  

  I wish you ease and comfort in your lower back--and I feel sure that you can feel better.

  
  
  

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  Nancy Hausauer, LMP
  Tacoma Massage Therapy
  706 Sixth Avenue
  Tacoma, WA 98405
  253-686-1214
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Nothing on this website is intended as medical advice. Massage therapy and energy healing are not replacements for conventional medical care. If you have health concerns, you should seek the advice of a qualified medical practitioner.
  
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