Just getting some intermittent but quite acute lower back pain lately

Walking seems to help, sitting makes it worse

Are there any stretches that are safe but useful to do when it gets particularly bad?

got this off my physio.

lay flat on the floor, feet together, bend your knees until feet flat on floor. keeping your back/shoulder as flat to the floor as possible, twist at hips to try and touch the floor with your outside of the knee. hold and then same other side. repeat 5 times each side.

work for me anyhow. keep doing them over a wee while.

Abby off of pinkbike does lower back this month

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/three-levels-of-yoga-to-relieve-lower-back-pain-monthly-yoga-with-abi-2017.html

Child’s pose (as per the top picture above). You can increase the stretch by moving one hand across the other (walk it across the floor) so it’s outside the other hand. Then go back and repeat on the other side….

I also like Iron Cross (similar to the bottom picture but with a straight leg. You can also put one foot behind the other knee and roll over as in the picture, you get a better stretch that way..

Identify what is causing the pain first, then get stretches from doc/physio who knows what they’re talking about.

Walking seems to help, sitting makes it worse

I think you’ve answered your own question here. Other things that may well help are swimming, yoga, tai chi or similar- whatever gets your back moving. Pick one that you think you’ll be most likely to do on a regular basis- ie something that you enjoy. Motion is lotion people! 😉

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOjTegn9RuY[/video]

Programme from physio for lower back (check online for videos explaining each)

Passive ROM Extension
Active ROM Extension
Flexion sitting in chair
Active ROM Extension (like exercise 2 in seosamh77’s post above)
Transverse recruitment
Plus work on core and glute strength.

If you want the link and password to the actual programme let me know and I can email it to you.

I swear by this video. You may initially find one or two stretches difficult but this is why you have the back pain so just persevere and you’ll be amazed how much movement you regain after a few days.
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XNN3K2qj-L0[/video]

It may also be worth seeing an osteopath. Physios can give you a stretch, but if the problem is muscular then one visit and you’ll walk out getting better ( based on personal experience).

When my hamstrings tighten they seem to cause pain in my back and hips soI just stretch my hamstring standing at bottom of stairs put leg up in front as many stairs as possible and stretch over it works for me obviously may not for all

I’ve suffered with lower back trouble on and off since summer 2008, thanks to my old job involving lifting white good up multiple flights of stairs, up to ~100Kg washing machines. I was prescribed Diclofenac for ~8 months, initially just walking ~20 metres was causing severe pain, lurching forward and to my left.

It could well be complete coinsidence, I randomly decided to try “The Plank” two minute challenge a couple of times last summer.

Since attempting the challenge (where my form was probably awful by ~90 seconds), my back has been the best it has been since 2008, I’m nowhere near as reliant on my Homedics shiatsu massager

Lots of good suggestions above imparticular walking and ability carter videos on pink bike but you will need to find the underlying cause to be most effective in treatment.

Personally I go to an osteopath but know my issues …far too much rugby and lifting heavy things badly ( beer barrels/ flags and so on )when I was young. So try and get to the root cause me it may not be your back but hamstrings or hips or you walking gait.

Do the stretches and build up you core.

Walk do not sit all day.

Good luck

I recommend applying warmth as well. Warm a wheat bag in the microwave and use it on your back.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20130617-Phil-Burt-s-Big-Four-0

Buy the robin Mackenzie book, simple and effective

here

I have just started using Abi Carver as linked above, she has lots of free stuff on Pinkbike and Vimeo, has made a big difference to me. 10 + years of working from home have ruined my back.

Back excersizes I do (Yoga poses good by the way, @seaso’s pic is of a standard yoga stretch at start/end of a session))

Lie on floor and bring one knee to your chest and hold for 5 secs. Alternate say 5 times. Then bring both knees to your chest, hold repeat.

Lie on floor face down and lift alternate arm / leg (eg left arm, right leg) a few inches of the ground and hold for say 5 secs. Sort of a front crawl swiiming positon, arms and legs straight. Do some reps.

As above body is complicated and interconnected, back problems can cause issues elsewhere and visa-versa.

The stretches and exercises that reduce the risk of an episode are not necessarily the appropriate when you have pain and are trying to get back to normal. I’m struggling at the moment with inflammation that’s triggering muscles to protect the nerves, resulting in pain and stiffness – some of the exercises my physio has given me are irritating the nerves and making things worse. I’m sure they’ll be good once I get the inflammation down, but not now. Plan for now is to keep moving and take ibuprofen.

Thanks all – sadly I’m not really supposed to take ibuprofen.

I did have a ruptured disc last year – consultant recommended wait and see as surgery was a last resort and not without risks. It seemed to fix itself but pain has returned several months later thankfully without the sciatica I had before

Have tried physio but not osteo or chiro – slightly put off by the fact the NHS doesn’t endorse them

[video]http://https://youtu.be/vOgxWp0WyiI[/video]

Someone posted this up some time ago on a previous thread about bad backs. It genuinely helped me and still does.
I think 20 years standing over a work bench has buggered up my back, and posture.

i had to dig back through my own threads some years but i asked similar once and this was recommended, it massively helped me….

Lower Back Stretches

BUT… i have always suffered from lower back pain, now and again i would literally lock up (one time my back went in the surf and i had to crawl out the water and up the beach, no kidding). about 3 or 4 years ago i started going to a weekly circuits sesh with my running club and in it we do a lot of core work. i still find it amazing but i very rarely, if ever, even have a twinge these days. so for me it was all about lack of core strength basically.

Identify what is causing the pain first, then get stretches from doc/physio who knows what they’re talking about.

This. The issue could easily be in your hamstrings or hips rather than your back muscles.

Look up shin boxes, great stretch helping me no end. Jist search hip / glute / hamstring stretches

A timely thread as my back went on Thursday. It happens every few months a last a few days, gradually getting better. I work from home and am sat at my desk all day which I’m sure is the reason behind it. I’ll try some of the stretches
This time my wide persuaded my to see a osteopath, he massage the area and did some alignments, I have to go back next week for another session. I’d never been to an osteopath before so didn’t know what to expect afterwards, a few hours later I felt really nausous and generally not right, some googling tolds me that that can happen as a result of the alighnment.
Anyway back felt a little better but still painful and unable to bend down, no problems on the bike though (once I’d swung my leg over, which was tough). Today as a result of reading this thread I iced it and it’s now so much better. Not sure whether to go back to the osteopath for the follow up…

Bookmarked

Psoas syndrome,that’s what i had.

The theory I heard was that the common problem was forward tilt to the pelvis

Typical modern life lead to tight quads and lower back. Weak stomach and hamstrings. This mean the quads and lower back tilt your pelvis forward.

The solution for me has been quad stretches and lower back stretches and some core strengthening

As above, see a physio and get a diagnosis as multiple issues manifest themselves as lower back issues. As well as working on flexibility you also need to work on core strength for stability

That is an impressive thread resurection! 🙂

If you can stretch to £60 go and see a proper physio.

Exercises to treat one ailment will exacerbate others.

My experience is that people who know nothing will pronounce with great certainty what the problem is, whereas experts will declare themselves to be “not sure” until they have carried out a number of tests.