Lower Back Pain Exercises

The right kinds of lower back exercises will help recovery from back pain.

Back pain is common but most cases aren’t caused by a serious problem. Most cases of back pain get better on their own within a few weeks.

Stay active. Bed rest for more than a couple of days makes it harder to get going. Gradually increase your normal activities and do regular exercise.

When done in a controlled, progressive manner, exercises for relieving back pain have many benefits, including:

- Strengthening the muscles that support the spine, removing pressure from the spinal discs and facet joints

- Alleviating stiffness and improving mobility

- Improving circulation to better distribute nutrients through the body, including to the spinal discs

- Releasing endorphins, which can naturally relieve pain. A frequent release of endorphins can help reduce reliance on pain medication. -

Endorphins can also elevate mood and relieve depressive symptoms, a common effect of chronic pain.

- Minimizing the frequency of back or neck pain episodes, and reducing the severity of pain when it does occur

Your core muscles support your spine and lower back, and your core, hips, glutes, and hamstrings together form one big stability machine, so weakness in any one of those muscles forces the others to take up the slack. If you have weak hip and gluteal muscles, for example, as they become fatigued during a run, your lower back is forced to work harder to keep you upright and stable, and you become vulnerable to injury.