Sitting, standing, and even walking for long periods of time can cause serious issues for your lower back. Your muscles become tight, pushing on your nerves and creating painful sensations that can spread down to your legs or even cause digestive problems.
Stretching your lower back is crucial to keep it healthy, oxygen and nutrient-supplied, and mobile for years to come. Start with these six exercises and stay as consistent as you possibly can.
Child’s Pose
Cat and Cow
All-Fours Stretch
Downward Facing Dog
Happy Baby
90-Degree Forward Fold
Child’s Pose
Start in a kneeling position and spread your knees as wide as you comfortably can. Come into a forward fold and stretch your arms far away from you. Feel your torso fall in between your thighs and shimmy your hips a little bit if you need to and get comfortable.
Drop your forehead to the floor and push your palms into the floor as well, creating a distance between your shoulders and ears. Stay here for five to ten long inhales and exhales, feeling your lower back sink closer to the floor with every exhale.
Cat and Cow
Come to all-fours position, palms right under your shoulders and knees right under your hips. Activate your abs and feel the space in between your shoulder blades expand. Inhale and drop your chest, looking up toward the sky and creating a U shape with your spine. Exhale and bring your chin toward your chest, curving the spine in the opposite direction.
Inhale, look up, exhale look down. With every breath, try to articulate your spine as much as you possibly can, feeling your muscles stretch. Repeat at least five times and take it slow.
All-Fours Stretch
Come to all-fours position, palms right under your shoulders and knees right under your hips. Activate your abs and feel the space in between your shoulder blades expand. Inhale and thread your right arm under your torso and toward your left side, stretching it far away from you, landing on your right shoulder or shoulder blade.
Feel your entire back stretch and expand as you do so, trying to use the fingers of your right hand to walk and stretch a bit further with each exhale. Stay for five long breath cycles before returning to a neutral position and repeating everything on the right side.
Downward Facing Dog
One of the basic yoga poses, downward-facing dog is an awesome lower back stretch, elongating your spine from your hips to the crown of your head. Start in a plank pose and push your hips diagonally up and back. Keep your legs stretched out and push yourself away from the floor by digging your palms into the ground. Your heels will want to reach the floor but there’s a great chance they won’t be able to.
The goal is not for your heels to reach the floor though, the stretch is in the constant reach that helps elongate your spine and separate your vertebra. Send your shoulders away from your ears to create space for your neck and bend your knees a little if the stretch is too intense on your hamstrings and calves. Stay here for three to five long inhales and exhales.
Happy Baby
Lie on your back and bend your knees. Bring them into your chest and hug them tightly, feeling your low back flat on the floor. Gently rock side to side to massage your lower back and then grab your feet from the inside and push into your palms while at the same time pulling your feet down, letting your knees fall to the sides, and trying to reach for the floor.
This dual motion stretches out your lower back muscles and opens up your hips, allowing blood to come rushing into your groin and improve your range of motion. Stay for five long inhales and exhales.
90-Degree Forward Fold
Stand in front of a wall or a railing, two to three feet away. Place your hands on the wall or said railing and slowly start lowering your torso until you’re parallel with the floor. You might need to take a few more steps back to fully extend your spine.
Feel your hips stretching and with it, your lower back muscles. You can simply stay here and take five long inhales and exhales or you can slightly twist to one side and then the other, stretching the sides of your torso and getting deep into your lumbar area.
Stretching is an amazing way to promote blood flow, increase oxygen and nutrient flow in your muscles, and relieve tension caused by everyday sedentary habits and exercise. If you found these stretches helpful, check out these six efficient stretches for your hips and tackle your lower body from all angles.
