Occasionally, when lifting, the back has to lose its shape a bit but if you lift correctly and don’t try to lift too much for the current condition of your spine, your muscles should be able to help you maintain that good position. Now, this is not to say that you never curve your spine out. Yeah, changing the direction of the curve can be healthy for the discs between the vertebrae to get a little blood flowing and for the muscles to get a little stretch but flattening your spine should be a momentary and controlled event, like in an exercise.

Another source of low back pain is poor trunk strength. If your abdominal muscles and back muscles are not in reasonably good condition, you could be setting yourself up for future back pain. Additionally, having trunk muscles that are out of balance can lead to eventual back pain. For example, when back muscles are stronger than the abdominal muscles, the trunk muscles are out of balance.

A third source of back pain is muscle tightness in the trunk or upper legs. I am talking about tightness due to nothing more than prolonged postures. Writers have this in a big way. We tend to stay hunched over our keyboards for hours at a time and because writing is mentally fatiguing, we think we are too tired at the end of the day for exercise. At least that is my excuse. People who stand for a living can have similar problems as do people who perform any repetitive-motion task. Serious homemakers, and you know who you are, get more productive motions in one day most other occupations. Unfortunately, I was never serious enough about housework for it to do me much good, but I digress.

I am going to list a series of exercises to stretch and strengthen your back. Most are for improved mobility but all provide some measure of strengthening. All of them hurt a bit when you start but get easier by the fourth or fifth repetition. If you have seen a doctor and he has sent you home with prescription for pain relief but no other warnings, nothing here will add to your discomfort.

These exercises should be done daily but, really, fit them in whenever you can and do them multiple times a day when you have lower back pain.

Press ups

1. Lying on your bed, roll onto your stomach and relax as much as possible.
2. Place your hands flat on the bed near your shoulders as if you were doing push-ups.
3. Keeping your back relaxed, push against the bed to raise your shoulders leaving your pelvis in contact with the bed or mat as much as possible.
4. Constantly remind yourself to relax your back as you straighten your arms. Don’t worry if you can’t straighten your arms completely at first. The first time I did this exercise, I barely moved my shoulders up at all.
5. Do 10 repetitions.

Cat back/sway back Exercise

Imagine a picture of a Halloween cat with its back arched. Now imagine a sway back horse. These are the two positions you are going to try to use for the next exercise.

1. Kneel down on all fours, hands and knees, on a relatively firm surface. It can be your bed if it is reasonably firm, meaning you are in no danger of pitching over.
2. Place your hands shoulder width apart.
3. Place your knees hip width apart.
4. Arch your back like the Halloween cat and look down as much as possible like you were trying to see your undersides. You should be able to increase the arch over time but really try to get a good stretch at your low back and between your shoulders. This is one of those exercises that allows you to safely reverse the curve in your lumbar.
5. Drop your midsection down like the image in your mind of the sway back horse and look up at the ceiling. Your pelvis should swivel a bit and you may also feel it in your shoulders.
6. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Alternating arm/leg lift

1. Kneel down on all fours, hands and knees, on a relatively firm surface. It can be your bed if it is reasonably firm.
2. Place your hands shoulder width apart.
3. Place your knees hip width apart.
4. Simultaneously reach forward with your right arm while raising and straightening your left leg out behind you. Try to keep your actions smooth but you may be somewhat jerky or unsteady at first.
5. Place your right arm and left leg back at the starting position.
6. Simultaneously reach forward with your left arm while raising and straightening your right leg out behind you. Try to keep your actions smooth but you may be somewhat jerky or unsteady at first.
7. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Quad stretch

Your quadriceps is the group of muscles at the front of your thigh. Several different stretches are useful for stretching these muscles but most of those stretches require you to be in good condition already. This is a stretch for the rest of us:

1. Lying on your bed, roll onto your stomach and relax as much as possible.
2. Bend your right knee and then bend your left knee, hooking your left ankle around your right ankle.
3. Relax your right leg and pull with your left ankle toward your bottom to bend your right knee a little further.
4. Swap sides and pull your left ankle with your right ankle.
5. Try to pull the ankle a bit farther each time.
6. For added stretch, raise your upper trunk so you are resting up on your elbows and force the front of your hips down into the bed or mat.
7. Repeat 5 to 10 times for each leg.

Hamstring stretch

You need a bath towel or long belt for this exercise.

1. Lie down on your back on your bed or exercise mat with your knees bent.
2. Move your right knee toward your chest and loop your towel or belt around the instep of your right foot.
3. Holding one end of the towel or belt in each hand, straighten your leg up toward the ceiling. Depending on how tight you are, this may be very uncomfortable.
4. Try to pull your leg so that the bottom of your foot is aimed at the ceiling. This may take weeks of stretching to achieve. Don’t worry about it. Even if you don’t get anywhere close, you will be getting some stretch and a big benefit.
5. Keep your bottom on the bed or mat while you stretch. Your bottom will try to follow the leg to ease the stretch. Don’t let it.
6. Repeat 5 or 10 times with each leg.

Lower back pain has been my constant companion ever since I can remember. With diligence and a little thought, you can manage your pain and even get the best of it. At Old Back Magic, we offer the tools for managing low back pain and living a normal life. For example, using the original McKenzie Lumbar Roll while sitting at your desk can mean the difference between a productive day and a miserable one.