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Ease low back pain without exercise!

The majority of people do NOT like to exercise. This is one of the reasons they have difficulty sticking to a routine that WILL substantially decrease their pain if not eliminate it completely. Life is busy, and completing several exercises every day is oftentimes the first thing that’s eliminated if it’s even started in the first place.

The simple technique I’ll show you today only requires a chair and you lying on your back for five or ten minutes. Ease low back pain without exercise! You can text, talk, or read while lying there, although it’s most effective if you simply relax and breathe, using your diaphragm.

First, let’s discuss whom this technique benefits the most. The pain must be localized to your low back. Do not use this technique if you have leg pain or numbness that radiates below either knee. If bending forward or sitting increases your back pain, this technique is beneficial and offers fairly consistent pain relief. I’ve also seen it benefit individuals over sixty-five years of age who experience back pain when standing and walking, though not as frequently. The good news is it will NOT make your symptoms worse.

Find a chair, couch or bed. Lie on the floor, on your back and place your legs from your knees down onto the chair, couch or bed. Your knees should be bent at 90 degrees. You can move your bottom closer or farther from the chair, couch or bed in order to get your low back in the most comfortable position, preferably a position in which you feel no pain or discomfort.

Now just lie there for five, ten, or even fifteen minutes. This position causes a gentle decompression of the spine to take place. The pressure on the discs and joints in your low back is slowly and gently decreased. This allows fluid into the discs and into the articular cartilage of the joints. The technique is made more effective if you focus on your breathing by using your diaphragm.

To do this, place your hands on your stomach and take deep breaths in through your nose and fill up your hands with your stomach. Your stomach should rise up and out to fill your hands. (When breathing correctly with your diaphragm, your stomach and hands will be moving from side to side more than they will up and down.) When you breathe this way, you use your diaphragm instead of the muscles that connect from your neck to your ribcage. When you breathe out, do so through your mouth. That’s it; relax and breathe and your low back pain will gradually decrease in this position. It’s a great technique to break up the pain cycle and allow your spine to decompress.

As with any position, exercise, or technique, there are outliers. If this position makes your back pain worse (quite rare), don’t do it.

Now you have a simple, relaxing way to reduce your back pain without having to exercise! It must be noted that this is only a tool to reduce symptoms and will NOT cure you of your low back pain. It is part of the picture and if used daily will greatly benefit your spine and give it a chance to heal so you are able to gradually resume regular movement and activities.