Stretching For The “Low Hanging Fruit” Of Lower Back Pain

About a year ago I started waking up with a sore lower back. There are so many things it could be, like maybe the mattress is too soft, maybe it was an old injury flareup, maybe it’s just my age? I had no idea why it hurt, only that me tweaking my sleeping position here and the mattress firmness there wasn’t helping at all.

Of course, I’m writing this post because my morning back pain is gone. But I’m not going to tell you that there is some miracle cure that fixes lower back pain. In fact, for me anyway, the miracle I ran smack into was just good common sense.

Why does it take so long for THAT to happen? 

Stretching  

I’ve always been super tight in the hips and the whole sacral region, and I thought now was a perfect time to devote just a few minutes every day to stretching out hips, lower back, hamstrings, quads, etc. 

My plan wasn’t to stretch for hours on end, but more like just 30 minutes or so, using those sessions on YouTube for guidance (there are a million). The key for me wasn’t duration, it was consistency.

So that was my commitment: consistently stretch and strengthen these muscles over the next several weeks. That was 6 weeks ago now. 

Being ancient as I am, it just takes a while for flexibility to return. However, it actually is coming back little by little. I noticed that I’m able to lean over my knee further when I reach to the floor, and open my hips wider on the butterfly stretch. 

I knew that would happen, but what I did not expect was that I would start to wake up and basically bounce out of bed. Bending over to pull on my socks wasn’t so tough any more, and that chronic morning pain is simply going away. 

But Why Is Stretching Linked To Back Pain?   

Every muscle is anchored to some bone somewhere, they’re not just floating around in there. Of course this is also true of your lower back. If those muscles get stiff and rigid over time, they’ll chronically pull sideways on those vertebrae, which can cause low grade ongoing pain.

However, when you stretch your muscles they become more pliant, flexible, and basically give those connections a break for a while. Stretching also actually makes muscles stronger and gives them a wider range of motion. Weaker, stiffer muscles are more prone to injury as well. Here’s an article from Harvard on stretching and what all it can do for us.  

Is Stretching The Magic Cure For Lower Back Pain? 

Nope. I wish it was. There are so many possible causes for lower back pain, and stiff, inflexible, weaker core muscles are just one of them. That said, it’s such an easy possibility to start with. If you’re going to try something first, stretching and strengthening your back, hips, and legs is a great idea.  

This is the “low hanging fruit” of back pain fixes. In other words, it’s the easiest solution to start with because it doesn’t cost anything, everyone can do it to some extent, and it’s a low impact activity as well. 

Even better, there are many free guides and videos from personal trainers who provide coaching for all levels. This is what I did by just searching for ‘yoga stretch’ and finding the ones that I liked the best. Of course, always loop your doctor in on your activity plans.