How to Relieve Your Back Pain with One Simple Stretch

Chronic back pain can keep you from living a fully functional life. And, when back pain is debilitating, it’s hard to focus on much else. Your back pain might be so severe that you turn to strong medications and surgeries in search of relief. But what if I told you relief from your lower back pain is just one incredibly effective stretch away? 

Something that continues to amaze me as a physical therapist is how simple movements, designed to preserve and restore your body, can cause a profound reduction or even elimination of symptoms from imbalances in our bodies developed over decades.

The most common causes of back pain that I see are from constantly flexing your spine, having poor posture, and sitting most of the time. A chronically flexed spine creates flexion-based back pain and contributes to incredibly harmful imbalances in our bodies. These imbalances lead to chronic pain, especially in the lower back. And, consequently, there’s a damaging cumulative effect from all this flexion.  

So, today I want to show you a very simple stretch you can do to reduce your back pain and restore flexibility and mobility in your body. It’s just one of the body movement stretches in my range of 3-minute exercises, and I’m confident you’ll experience relief when you try this stretch. 

Mobility is important to your physical health. When you incorporate daily stretching into your life, you increase your range of motion, prevent injury, and increase your flexibility. These are just some of what makes stretching such an effective tool for relieving back pain.

Along with relief from your back pain, there are benefits of incorporating specific stretches into your daily routine such as: 1

• Increased blood flow to your muscles
• Relaxed muscles
• Proper spinal alignment
• Better posture

When we think about our physical fitness and the types of exercises we do, stretching is often overlooked. But, stretching really should be part of your everyday routine to help prevent injury, protect your mobility, and to keep you healthy. 

Research tells us that most of us spend at least half of the day sitting down. And at least 80 percent of us are suffering from back pain because of it. The most alarming part of this review of over 47 studies shows people who sit for large periods of time have a higher risk of dying from all causes compared to those with more active lifestyles. 2

I know, it’s a very grim reality. But, one I hope helps to convey just how important it is to take intentional action to reduce damaging strain on your back caused by a chronically flexed spine. And, one of the best ways to do this is to work towards healing and preventing injury through stretching. Incorporating stretches like the one coming up, is incredibly beneficial to your health and promotes longevity.

I want to point out that simply standing, improving your posture, or even exercising won’t actually resolve the current imbalances in your body. This is because these attempts to help yourself feel better don’t address the damage already done by chronic flexion. Even if you exercise every single day, it’s not enough to offset the damage already done. 3 

The pain you feel in your lower back is caused by constantly flexing your spine. Spinal flexion is when you do a forward bending movement creating an arch in your back. And, unfortunately, when your back is in a flexed position most of the time it’s really problematic. When you have too much flexion in your spine you create too much load for your spine to effectively handle.

Think about when you sit down at your computer or in front of the TV, your posture is probably a little hunched forward with your shoulders rounded. Or when you bend forward to unload the dishes or pick up a laundry basket, you are most likely bending at the waist, rounding your back forward without using your legs at all. Your entire spine goes from a natural and neutral “S”-shaped position to a slumped forward “C”-shaped position.

Your body has adapted to this C-shaped position, making damaging and dysfunctional changes to your musculoskeletal system. And back pain is the most common musculoskeletal condition.3 

Unfortunately, most people don't realize they’re in a chronically flexed state until they have noticeable dysfunction in their bodies. Remember, simply bending forward incorrectly creates flexion in your back and sets you up for all kinds of injuries.

Your spine is designed to be strong and flexible so that it’s able to protect your spinal cord. Chronic flexion of your spine reduces its strength and causes your vertebrae to push on the discs in your spinal cord. When the pressure is more than your spine can bear, you end up with painful symptoms such as: 4 

• Nerve compression
• Herniated discs
• Kyphosis 
• Sciatica
• Chronic back and neck pain
• Headaches
• Shooting and throbbing pain down your leg
• Inflammation

The best way to avoid all of these symptoms is to do things that promote a strong and flexible spine so it can do its job at protecting your back. When you do the stretch I’m going to show you next, the discs in your back are brought back into alignment and relieved of pressure.

The stretch I’m going to walk you through is called press-ups. To see it demonstrated, please watch the first half of the video below.