Low Back Pain Exercises
Many people experience low back pain each year. Because the low back is a complex structure of joints, discs, ligaments, and muscles, the source of pain can be tricky to determine. Low back pain exercises are a must to help with the healing process and decrease your risk for a future injury.
Starting patients off with low back pain exercises, we like to address the back and hip tissue tightness, and mobility. In most cases of low back pain, the muscles of the back and hip develop trigger points. Trigger points are focal areas of hypersensitive fibers that cause local pain and refer pain. Performing low back pain exercises that target these tight spots can have significant effect at decreasing symptoms.
Here are our favorite low back pain exercises to help address tight, sore muscles in the back and hip.
Low Back Pain Exercises: Self Massage Technique
A massage ball to the lower back can be very effective at loosening your the lower back muscles. We like lacrosse balls as they are very firm and easily press into the low back muscles. Some people with smaller or thin body types may find the lacrosse ball to be too uncomfortable. Tennis ball, or racquet ball may work better.
Here is a nice video demonstration on how to perform lower back self massage.
Gluteal Self Massage
The second of the low back pain exercises we like to prescribe is self massage for the gluteal muscles. Again we like a lacrosse ball as it gets deep into the dense hip musculature. Try this one out on the wall. You can easily control the pressure from the ball and access different angles into the muscles easily. This exercise is also excellent in managing Iliotibial Band Syndrome.
Child’s Pose
An easy, but effective exercise to help with low back pain, stiffness, and tightness. This one of the more gentle low back pain exercises. It simultaneously stretches the low back muscles, while decompressing the low back joints and discs. Our video shows how to perform Child’s pose on multiple directions.
Lower Back Pain Decompression Exercise
Many people have heard of inversion tables to help take pressure of the low back. They are absolutely effective for many types of low back pain but they are expensive and they take up a lot of room. The decompression stretch below, utilizes a Swiss ball to provide a fulcrum which helps take pressure off the lumbar spine. You must be very relaxed when performing this exercise. You should not experience any pain with it at all
Low back pain exercises are a must in any treatment protocol for the low back. We start patients with exercises on the first day of treatment for the best outcomes. If you are in need of an evaluation and treatment, please schedule with us today! We are conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego near the neighborhoods of La Jolla, Carmel Valley, Mission Hills, Hillcrest, and Bird Rock.
Drs Travis and Kevin Rose are sports chiropractors in San Diego, California. They treat a wide range of injuries and have helped thousands of patients get back to their potential. Athletes themselves, they understand the importance of recovering from injury and returning to sport.
