It’ssafe to assume that if you’re reading this you probably sit at yourcomputer for a long time. It’s ok, we’re not judging you, we allhave desk jobs, even those lucky enough to be freelancers still sitat their laptops for hours. And therefore we all experience backpain, especially lower back pain. In order to ease that pain orprevent it, you’ve got to move around. Make sure you go for walks,or at least stand up every 30 minutes or so to do a short work or acouple of stretches. Speaking of stretches, here are the beststretches to ease lower back pain. Try to do these daily if you wantto see real results and forget about lower back pain.
1. Child’s Pose
Doingthe child pose is a great way to take the pressure off of your lowerback. When doing it you elongate your spine while also decompressingand aligning it. It’s a nice stretch and it feels good. Start outon all fours with your knees hip-width apart and lay your torso downon your thighs. Put your hands up in front of you and try to stretchforward, as if to elongate your whole spine and neck. It’s best torelax into it and stay in the pose for at least a minute or two.
2. Trunk Rotation Stretch
Thisis a great stretch to do and if you’ve been sitting all day longyou’re bound to feel your muscles relaxing and might possibly feelthat satisfying crack as you do it. The idea is to lay down on yourback, keep your shoulders and upper back flat on the floor whiletwisting your feet first to one side, then the other.
3. Cat/Cow
Thisis another stretch that you might’ve come across is you’ve everdone yoga. It’s a great way to get your spine moving after a longday of sitting at a desk. Start on all fours with your wrists underyour shoulders and your knees under your hips. First, round up yourspine and drop your head down to imitate a scared cat. Do this on anexhale. Then do the opposite and pull up your head and chest, archyour back and lift your tailbone up. This is the cow part of thestretch. Do this part on an inhale. Go back and forth for a couple ofminutes.
4. Knee To The Chest
Thisstretch is meant to release tension in your thighs, buttocks andlower back. Lie down on your back with one leg straight and the otherone bent at the knee. Now pull your knee towards your chest with yourarms until you feel a stretch. Stay in that position for 30 seconds.Repeat for the other leg. You can also do this by just hooking yourarms under the knee and pulling your thigh towards your chest thatway.
5. Downward Facing Dog
Wehave no doubt you’ve heard about this one. The downward-facing dogdoesn’t exactly stretch your lower back, instead, it stretches yourlegs and removes the pressure from your lower back. Did you know thatsometimes we get lower back pain just because our legs muscles gettoo tight? You know how to do this one, so we won’t even botherexplaining, it’s pretty easy.
6. Seated Spinal Twist
Thisstretch works wonders for most of your body and improves mobility inyour back. To perform it – sit down with your legs straight infront of you. Bend your right leg at the knee and place the foot overthe left leg. Now take your left arm and move it to the right so thatyour elbow is over your knee. Twist your torso to the left. Repeat onthe other side two. It’s best to do this slowly without any suddenmovement and extra straining. It’s a slow stretch.
7. Sphinx Pose
It’sexactly what it sounds like. Lie down on your tummy. Place yourelbows under your shoulders and engage your lower back a little.However, don’t hyperextend or stretch too far. You shouldn’t feelany pain. Stay in this pose for a couple of minutes.
8. Cobra Stretch
Thisis very similar to the sphinx we mentioned above. But this time youput your hands under your shoulders and lift up. Try to imagineyourself being lifted up by the top of your head. Elongate the neckand your spine. And again, do so slowly and don’t arch your back oroverextend your lower back. You shouldn’t feel any pain.
9. Gentle Rocking
Lie down on your back, wrap your arms around your knees and hold them close to your chest. Now slowly rock from side to side. This is a great way to massage and relax your back. Do this for a couple of minutes to really feel the effect of this stretch.
