According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and the American Chiropractic Association, 80% of Americans at some point in their lives will experience low back pain.

Heck I’ve even experienced it and I’m a chiropractor!

Now, as grim as this fact may seem, the good news is that there are tons of non-invasive treatments and easy at home exercises and stretches that you can do at home to help with this. However, this is just a reminder to always get your low back pain checked out by your favorite chiropractor or practitioner. Remember we want to thrive in life, not just survive! 

When it comes to low back pain, the severity of it is going to vary greatly from feelings of aches and stiffness to sharp shooting pain that burns with numbness down the back of your leg. For all of you out there reading this, here are some great at-home exercises and stretches that you can do both in severe pain and for preventative measures and in between practitioner treatment sessions. 

The first stretch is a supine knee to chest stretch.

This stretch is great because it can be done in your bed, or on the floor. A firmer surface is preferable, but even a comfy couch can work as a surface. With this stretch, you want to make sure that your spine and neck are flat against the surface, maintaining a nice neutral spine. You want to grab your shins or the back of your thighs and gently pull your knees to your chest. You should feel a nice stretch in your low back. This motion will gap the lower lumbar joints, creating more space, and relieving pressure. To turn this stretch into a mobilization, simply do a nice pumping or oscillating motion with your knees back and forth in and away from your chest. This motion helps to mobilize your sacroiliac joint (SIJ) and works as a natural pump to get rid of any inflammation that might have accumulated in the joint space when sleeping or sitting for too long. 

OR

Hold for 3 sets of 30s or 3 sets of 10 oscillations.

The next stretch I’m going to show you is a child’s pose. This is one of my personal favorite stretches to do, especially before bed after a long day of work.

I also love this stretch because it incorporates the latissimus dorsi muscles. The Lat muscle starts in the low back and comes in and attaches to the inside of your humerus or arm bone. When your Lats are tight, they will cause not only low back pain, but also problems with your shoulders.

When doing a child’s pose, you can incorporate a deeper Lat stretch by walking your arms over to the left, hold the pose, then over to the ride side. You should feel the stretch in your low back and along the outer portion of your upper rib cage and armpit area. If the stretch feels uncomfortable in the arms, place a slight bend in the elbows to take some of the tension off. If you have knee pain, the supine knee to chest will work best for you.

For this last stretch, you are going to take a tennis or lacrosse ball and roll out the bottom of your feet. Now, this might seem odd at first. How do my feet have anything to do with my low back pain?

Well, if you take a look at the anatomy, there is something called fascia lines that run and interconnect all our muscles in our bodies.  Think of fascia as a 3D spider web like material that creates this connective tissue network, holding things in place, and allowing some contractility. There are now several published articles about the importance of fascia, the different slings, and truly how all connected the body is! For more information of fascial, check out this website. 

From the image below, you can see the muscles and fascia that start on the bottom of your feet are connected to the calves, then move up to the hamstrings, up to the low back, and even up to the top of the skull! Something as simple as rolling out the bottom of your feet each day will help to relax this fascia and prevent it from pulling on your low back.

Try keeping a tennis ball in your bathroom or at your work area or some place close to you for convenience. I like to multi-task, so instead of the looming idea that you need to dedicate an hour to stretching, start to add a little bit here and there throughout the day. For example, when I am sitting at my desk, I will keep a tennis ball on the floor so I can roll out my feet every hour or so. Or, while I am brushing my teeth I will roll out the bottom of my feet as well, killing two birds with one stone. This loosens me up, I have clean teeth, and then I am ready for bed.

Roll out for about 30s each foot, 2 times. For a more intense release and pressure, stand up, or put more weight on the ball. Using a lacrosse or golf ball will also increase the intensity. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think!