Challenge Physical Therapy

Low Back Stretches

The most effective things that you can do at home to decrease low back and neck painis to do the back stretches and strengthening exercises that align your spine and level your pelvis.

The muscle that pulls the left side of your spine and pelvis out of alignment and causesleft sided back pain (and may radiate into your left leg) is the quadratus lumborummuscle. It attaches to your lowest rib, lumbar spine and top of your pelvis (iliac crest).

In order to stretch it you need to stretch your left arm over your head and lean to theright, this stretch is demonstrated in the DVD, “The Missing Link to Neck and Back PainRelief.” This stretch can help relieve left sided low back pain and sciatic pain in the leftleg.

The muscle that pulls the right side of your low back and pelvis out of alignment andcauses right sided back pain (which may also refer into your right leg) is the right hipflexor, the iliopsoas muscle. It attaches to all of the lumbar vertebrae, lumbar discs andthen runs forward to attach to the front on your hip bone (femur). The iliopsoas musclewhen tight and spasmed is very powerful for compressing your lumbar spine, pulling theright side of your pelvis out of alignment and contributing to herniated discs. It iscommonly shortened in many of us because we tend to sit too much. This muscle isstretched with a lunge stretch by kneeling down, placing your left leg in front of you andleaning forward, keeping your shoulders up. This is a common yoga pose. This stretchis also demonstrated in the DVD,”The Missing Link to Neck and Back Pain Relief.” Itcan relieve right sided low back pain and sciatic or radiating pain into the right leg.

When you have pain that is centered in the lumbar spine you probably need to do bothof these stretches. Stretching the right quadratus lumborum muscle or the left iliopsoasmuscle will not hurt you, but will not help to relieve your pain. One needs to stretch theleft quadratus lumborum and the right iliopsoas muscleto relieve pain and align thespine and pelvis.

Modalities like hot packs and cold packs will only treat your symptoms temporarily. Ifyou are in the middle of herniating a disc (an acute disc disruption) a hot pack canactually hurt you, why is that? The nucleus pulposus is the jelly fluid that leaks out ofyour disc and herniates through the outside layer (the annulus fibrosis). The nucleusimbibes (attracts) fluid to itself so that under normal conditions the discs can hydrateand stay plump. However, when the disc is herniating and leaking through the outsidelayer of ligamentous tissue this imbibing action can cause the herniation to grow andincrease the chances of nerve pain, etc. It is always safer to stick to cold packs.

If you have pain that is radiating past the level of your buttocks, it is best to be evaluatedby a professional to make sure you are not herniating a disc, as it may not be safe to doany back stretches at that time.