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Best Exercises for Lower Back Pain – Q&A
- chelsie462
- 4 hours ago
- 14 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in October 2024. For the original video, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLiCVjr00bU&t=49s
Brad: Today, we answer your questions on low back pain.
Mike: So our first question comes from @carlotta6768. "How do you prevent Sciatica? Worst pain ever!! & thank U for this video."
Brad: All right, so Carlotta, I am assuming that you have had sciatica. You do not want to get it again, because you experienced the pain with it. Excellent question, even if you haven't had low back pain or sciatica, this is good biomechanics and good information for everyone. So the first thing is posture. If you have ever watched our program in the last 10 years, posture, posture, posture makes a tremendous difference for low back pain as well as a myriad of other things. Mike, can you expand on that?
Mike: First, I feel like we should get a shirt that just says "Posture, posture, posture." Anyway, if you're having bad posture, rounding forward like this side profile, standing like this, slouched over, you're going to put a lot of pressure on your discs in your spine.
Mike: The more bent over you are, the more pressure you're accumulating. You do this over time for years, you're bound to have some disc issues, which can cause back pain or sciatica, so we need to fix this.
Brad: Right, so let's demonstrate using the stick, how you can actually feel your posture, and without having a mirror or someone say, "You're rounded over posture." So, by yourself with a four to five-foot stick of any type, go ahead.
Mike: So, what you can do is place it behind you. You should have three points of contact at least right now. I only have one.
Brad: Look at this big gap.
Mike: I have bad posture. So what you want to do is get the stick between your buttocks, in the middle of your shoulder blades, and then your head. I have three points of contact here.
Brad: One, two, three.
Mike: That is a good upright posture. If you cannot do this at home, you have poor posture. You can figure out where it's coming from based on where the stick is hitting.
Brad: Right, stay right there. You can also use this. It's a really good drill to do on a daily basis. Takes about two minutes. For bending over to pick up something, keep the stick there and maintain those three points, and go ahead.
Mike: Either you can squat down and bend your knees when you need to pick something up, like this. Or if you're going to lean forward, make sure to have a nice straight back and hinge at the buttock like this, making sure I have points of contact like this. Now if you struggle with that and you're trying to pick up something off the floor,
Brad: I get to do that.
Mike: Oh, he wants to throw it down.
Brad: Doesn't matter how heavy it is. Even a light object, keep the back straight by the...
Mike: Golfers pick up.
Brad: Golfers lift.
Mike: Lift?
Brad: There we go.
Mike: Whatever. I don't golf, I Frisbee.
Brad: See, do it the proper way.
Mike: So the proper way is to lean on something if it's nearby. And what you're going to do is keep a nice straight back. I'm kicking out my opposite leg like this, and I'm going up, and there we go. Keep a nice straight back.
Brad: Right, the old golfer's lift. If you have good balance, you can just go like this. My balance is not that good. So I'm definitely going to get a little assistance.
Mike: You can kind of pick whichever leg you want to kick back if you want to counterbalance that way, whatever works for you.
Brad: Now, the next thing, even more importantly than this in my opinion, is your posture while seated. If you sit in your chair and you buttocks go out like this and you're rounded, particularly if you're watching TV, working on a computer, and just all slouched over, you may not and probably are not aware of it, that really can put pressure on those discs and put you a great potential for another herniated disc or a new one.
Brad: So, what you're going to do is, there are two different options. If you're in a chair that's all rounded out, one of those nice fluffy couches or one of those chairs that feel really soft but they sink in, take a throw pillow like this of any sort, see, sorts, I'm getting it from you, Mike.
Mike: Of sorts.
Brad: Put it in your lower back area so it supports it, and I can definitely feel it. Now I feel I've got good posture now definitely right away.
Brad: If you have a firm chair like this, a lot of times it works better just to take a pillow, go to the bedroom, take it right off of your bed, or your kids' bed, or whoever's it may be, and use that, and it feels good, you can feel it. It informs your body, "Oh, I need good posture without thinking about it," a good way to do it.
Brad: Now, the other thing is stacking events.
Mike: So, if you go for a car ride, say, and it's for a couple of hours, you're sitting for a long time. And a fun fact, sitting actually puts the most pressure on your spine because when you're standing, your legs take a brunt of it, so sitting for a couple of hours, and then say you're going to go pick something heavy up, maybe you're helping someone move, maybe you're going to work out, whatever. Those in conjunction with each other are gonna cause a lot of stress on your lower back, especially if you have sciatica. So try to space things like that out.
Brad: Right, so if you're going to drive for two hours and help someone move, get up, make sure you go for a walk, get things moving in that nice tall, and then remember all the lifting mechanics we discussed that Mike demonstrated. I tried to make that answer short there, Carlotta. But that's a serious topic, and it needs some good attention for you as well as everyone else. Wow. Mike, number two.
Mike: Number two comes from @joesedlacek7552. "Brad you mentioned you have spondylolisthesis, well, that's my problem with some stenosis. How do you overcome the pain in your back and leg when walking? The longer I walk or stand, the more painful it gets."
Brad: Well, I can literally relate to your symptoms because that was exactly my symptoms. Spondylolisthesis combined with stenosis, common. I could walk for three-fourths of a mile before my right leg went numb down to my calf. I started to do exercises for that. And then there are a couple of other things, but I'll talk about the exercise and demonstrate. I would highly recommend that if you have spondylolisthesis, do the exercise ball because I'll explain it. But if you're walking and you start to feel that back pain and maybe pain down your leg, I want you to try squatting down like this. If that makes things feel better, then you definitely want to start doing these core exercises.
Brad: Tighten the abdomen; it's going to change the posture in your back, relieving some of that stress. Alright, this is what I still do. I've been doing this exercise for at least seven years now. I grab the ball on a hard floor. You could do it on a bed, but I recommend it on a carpeted floor for sure. And simply go up like this. It flattens your back. It feels good. It does not extend the back, which causes pain with spondy and work with these. And then you can do these. You really want to tighten those abdominal core muscles up. And then I actually do a rotational one.
Brad: And again, with all these, they should feel good while you're doing them. That rotational one may irritate yours, depending on what level your healing power process is in. But it's probably something that's not going to heal fast. It took me about a year before I could start to walk any distance and I consistently did this. Spondylolisthesis is not something that's going to get better overnight, but you can do things to eliminate those bad pain episodes just by your body mechanics. How are they gonna get to our playlists for spondy?
Mike: So, we have a playlist specifically on spondylolisthesis. There are a lot of videos in there. Just read through the titles and pick which one pertains to you, and you can find some more tips or exercises to try.
Brad: Yeah, a whole bunch more.
Mike: Our next question comes from @Cartoongirlbaby, "I have spinal stenosis and great difficulty walking. I am starting to walk humped over. I have lost three inches in height due to osteoporosis. What PT exercises would help me?"
Brad: Well, you have a very interesting problem, and it's not cartoon girl babies; that's your name. That's kind of a cool name. But actually, to be serious about it, with osteoporosis, flexed posture is going to put you more at risk for a compression fracture in your vertebra. But it's going to feel better because of the stenosis, and if you straighten up, with stenosis, it will start to irritate you, depending on the degree you have. So we're going to show you some exercises. You're going to have to actually feel it out yourself and just follow along. And you'll find what will be helpful for you, but again, use good judgment. They should never create any sharp pain or any pain. They should feel like a good stretch. Maybe a tiny amount of pain but not much.
Mike: So the first thing you're going to want to do with your walking is use some type of support if you currently are not. That can involve any type of walker. Or if you don't want to use a walker and you feel steady, you can try walking sticks. A cane might work, but it's not going to have much effect because it's only on one side, and if you're already hunched over. So oftentimes when you're walking, and you have some type of support, and you're slightly flexed, maybe you notice going shopping in a store, you lean on a shopping cart, and your back feels better. Same kind of concept. Use sticks to take some of this support off, and it can try and help you to stand up a little bit taller when you're walking as well.
Brad: Show her the right way to walk with them, though.
Mike: Well, you're going to do the opposite foot with the opposite leg.
Mike: All right, so yeah, go ahead. Because that's going to keep you from getting hunched over, taking pressure off, and you want to find that happy medium as straight as you can get without having pain, but not hunched over. You'll feel it.
Mike: The next thing you want to try is a couple of stretches to relieve some low back pain you may be having from the stenosis. The first one you could try is simply lying on your back and then bringing one knee up to your chest like this. You can hold this for 15, 30 seconds if it feels good. If you wanna go longer and you can, that's fine. Then alternate and do the other side. If this feels good and easy for you, you can progress to trying both knees to your chest at the same time, and see how that feels.
Mike: Again, just hold it for the duration of time that's comfortable for you. And the last thing you can try for some mobility and rotation component in your back is just some rotations like this. So my knees are bent, feet are flat on the ground, rotating out to the side. You may not be able to rotate this far right away. If this causes pain, just do what's comfortable. Maybe you're just going to go about 30, 45 degrees out to the side each way to begin with over time, see if you can progress to more motion, because the more motion you have, typically the less pain you might experience.
Brad: There you go. And the last thing we want to address is posture. Again, we want to have as upright a posture as you can, as long as your stenosis tolerates it. So we're going to recommend doing it sitting in the chair and/or lying down on the floor, probably on a carpeted floor. You could do it if you have a firm bed. And what I'm going to recommend in a seated position, Mike will demonstrate lying down, is you're going to bring your buttocks back in a reasonably firm chair and come back up and get a feel for how hard or how far you can go up, shoulders back. And then you can go into the famous "W' for win. Or you can do Bob's hallelujah stretch. So you're just going to go back and hold and relax, and do that five to 10 times. When you start out, you may only do it a few times, and then over a period of time, you will likely be able to go more, a little bit longer, and more repetitions, but never more than 10 will be needed. What about lying down? Oh, he's doing it.
Mike: If you're lying down and you cannot put your head down to the floor, you can certainly place a pillow here to start. Maybe over time, get a thinner pillow. Eventually, if possible, try to get your head to the ground. I realize if it's been going on for years, this may not be applicable, but do what you can. Use a pillow as needed. You may have to start with just your arms out to your side straight like this, and that may feel like a lot of stretching for you. If that is, then just hold this position there. Now, if this seems easy and comfortable, you can kind of make the "W" shape Brad was talking about, like this, and just hold this. If this becomes easy, the next progression would be to try to go up above your head like Brad was talking, keeping your back flat on the ground, and then bringing your arms back down. If you're having some back pain, keeping your knees bent like this may help when you're lying down. If it's not problematic, you can certainly straighten your legs up.
Brad: Sure, one step at a time. Take it easy. And I was thinking about this, @Cartoongirlbaby is trying it out on your bed first because that will allow things to sink in a little bit, and it'll be a little more tolerable, and then go to a firm surface. All right, thank you very much, and good name. Let's go to the next one.
Mike: And our last question comes from Nicole Em Es. "I have a super tight left back muscle and a weak right back muscle. How do I correct this? I can't find the muscle name. Run straight up on either side from the lower back." What's the muscle group, Brad?
Brad: Well, Nicole, it's the Erector Spinae group. Those are the ones that go from here all the way up to here on both sides.
Brad: Mike, let's talk about the other really common low back muscle that really gets tight.
Mike: So the multifidi can also get tight. You said Erector Spinae, right? I wasn't even listening.
Brad: Well, you really need to pay attention, Mike. You can't be going out the night before when we're filming.
Mike: The other muscle may be the multifidus. Brad was going out. It's his birthday today.
Brad: Okay, multifidi. We did discuss that multifidi is plural, both sides. So we're looking at multifidus on your left side. Okay, that's really just a point of no concern.
Mike: Anyway, you can do this two different ways, depending on your height and what's available for you. We just want to try to stretch the lower back muscles out. So you can either go to a pull-up bar, door frame, or whatever you have available for the first option. I'm going to place my palm facing away from me. Grab the top, and then I'm going to slowly start bending my knees, getting a nice stretch in here. Hopefully, your doorframe doesn't rock like ours does here, because it's not connected to a wall. So just hold this 15, 30 seconds, make sure to breathe and relax throughout, and then come up.
Mike: Try doing that a few times a day to see if you can get some relief from those spasms in that area. Brad, you want to show how to do it with a stick?
Brad: Yes, I do want to give a word of warning. If you're doing it on a doorframe or you're grabbing the door like I was doing, you need to be assured you have good strength, integrity of your door and doorframe, you know, so we don't want to have any issues or accidents. Use a stick. You can use a Booyah Stik, a broomstick, a mop handle, and you put it on a table or a countertop like this. If it has a slippery surface, what you'll want to do is pop off your shoe like this and put that in there so it doesn't slip. The left side is tight. I'll show you on my right side. You do whatever the tight side is on. Bring this hand up as far as you can. Grab it. You are not going to let the hand slip, and we're sliding... If you look at this, my shirt is stretching, and the muscles do exactly the same thing, and it really does feel good.
BRad: I have to do the other side just to balance out a little bit, which you could do as well if you want to. But make sure you do them longer on the left side. So you can do it like that. And an option is actually to do it on a chair while you're seated, and the same thing works almost exactly the same.
Brad: Alright, Nicole, thank you for your good questions. Anything we want to mention, Mike?
Mike: If you want more videos on Spondy, check out "Tests and Exercises for Spondylolisthesis."
Brad: Spondylolisthesis. You can't go wrong with these exercises that I have. I'm telling you, they work for me.
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