Back pain exercises

Stabilise your back with these useful stretches

Back pain exercises: Stabilise your back with these stretches

Chiropractic care is effective at helping with certain types of back pain. However, have you thought about what happens after you’re out of pain? Or what caused your pain in the first place?

At Connective Chiropractic we are keen to get to the root of your back pain. It’s why we focus on helping you to discover what’s wrong when you first come to see us (if anything, of course) but also why we are committed to helping you to correct, stabilise and empower any issue that is going on in your body to help keep the pain at bay.

Of course there are some cautions and limitations to note whenever we give at home, self care stretches or exercises. These are not intended as a replacement for Chiropractic or indeed any other healthcare and should only really be done when advised by a healthcare practitioner. Of course, if you are suffering with severe back pain these might not be the most wise to do straight away. However for most people these gentle stretches will assist in helping you to make the most out of your Chiropractic care with us, not least when you’re out of pain and looking to stabilise and correct what happened in the first place.

1. Keep moving

OK, so this isn’t a stretch as such. But the reality is that for most sorts of back pain that are not severe, motion helps. If things are too sore to exercise or take a walk, any gentle motions are good. Waddling or rocking from side to side, front and back can often help to ensure your pelvis is moving in all directions. If an area is sore, don’t push it, but keep it moving. It’s perhaps a good idea to book in to see us.

Back pain exercises can include Child's pose in Yoga

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2. Be your inner Child, Cat and Cow

We’re not talking amateur dramatics here but rather the colloquial names for some simple yoga poses.
Childs pose as well as Cat and Cow poses are great back pain exercises and stretches. They can help to gently move your body in a safe and structured way, whilst giving you opportunities to come up safely if you get stuck. These simple back care exercises are easily done on the floor or the bed and can be adapted to your needs or limitations.

The technical bits: Childs pose is good on the Latissimus dorsi, Teres major and Serratus anterior muscles, but it also feels generally good as an all around back stretch. ‘Cat’ is a great stretch all up through the back but in particular, its a good exercise for the splenius cervices, spinals thoracic and semispinalis thoracic muscles, as well as the longissimus cervicis and thoracis. The cow is good on the rectus and transverse abdominus (your stomach muscles) Confused? Or feel like you’ve suddenly become an extra in Harry Potter with all this latin? Don’t worry, this means they’re good general stretches that make for perfect back pain exercises.

3. Knees to Chest

Sounds like a strange torturous move, but in fact, this is one of the simplest back pain exercises that helps you to stretch not only some of the muscles in your back but also in the buttock area too.

This is as simple as bringing one knee up to the chest whilst standing or when lying on your back.

The technical bits: It’ll stretch your gluteus maximus (withhold the jokes) but also the Illiocostalis lumborum- a band of muscle that covers the low back.

4. Zombie pose!

The Quadrates Lumborum is a muscle that lies deep in the lower back between the pelvis and the bottom ribs. It’s a common muscular cause or component for many types of muscular or mechanical low back pain. There are lots of ways that you can stretch this muscle, but as its quite a deep muscle it rarely stretches without lots of others stretching at the same time too.

Our favourite move is to rotate your shoulders to one side. We recommend our patients to come backwards with their shoulders to help pull the upper body further around however a simple twist will engage the muscle on its own. Trying this exercise with your hand above your head or over to the side (Think i’m a little tea-pot but with a high spout!) can be a nice variation.

5. The body rocker

Whilst lying on your back with your arms to the sides, keep your knees together and rock them side to side.

The technical bits: This will stretch all three of the gluteus muscles as well as the iliocostalis lumborum.

Choosing the right back pain exercises

There are many exercises you can choose if you want to help stretch or support your back. It’s always advisable to chat through the exercises before you do them. We can advise what is best for you as part of the stabilisation or correction part of your Chiropractic care with us. We will be able to show you how best to stretch and may also be able to adapt certain stretches to your requirements. Of course, if ever you feel very uncomfortable whilst performing a stretch or back pain exercise, it’s best to stop and book in for a fuller assessment.