Should You Stretch a Strained Lower Back?
Stretching, while it may feel good in the moment, isn't the first thing I would recommend when you're dealing with lower back pain.
The effects of stretching are very temporary and actually have the negative trade off of decreasing the strength/function of whichever muscle you stretch for about an hour (you can see an example of this here).
Instead it’s better to focus on starting with isometrics of other muscles surrounding your lower back. Isometrics have a pain decreasing effect (when done the way described in our quick guide below) as well as the added bonus of increasing activation and strength of the muscle you are working!
We'll go over what isometrics are, how to do them, how often, and how to know which muscles you should do below.
The next recommendation after completing your isometrics is to move and be active as best you can.
You don't have to do anything crazy. Even walking is a great start.
You also don't have to push yourself into Navy Seal levels of pain. Do your isometrics, try to go about some of your usual daily movements, and then if it starts to get too uncomfortable take a break in a relieving position and repeat your isometrics.
If you notice that your pain decreases afterwards, which may be seconds to minutes after re-doing your isometrics, you can go right back to your usual activity. From my experience as a physical therapist I have seen patients recover much faster from bouts of lower back pain when taking the approach I desribed above rather than stretching or doing the old, outdated RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) technique.
Isometric Exercise Guide
Isometrics are an exercise where you activate your muscle without moving it and hold it for a certain amount of time
Think about flexing your biceps, that is an isometric and the same can be done to almost every other muscle in your body
When doing your isometric hold your arm/leg/trunk in a position where you can feel your target muscle tense up
How much tension? For the purpose of rehabbing your lower back we just want a light amount of tension, think about a gentle squeeze of the muscle
Perform 5 repetitions
Hold for 5 seconds on each rep
If your pain is just starting or you are just having difficulty doing anything else during the day because of it, aim for doing your isometric exercises 5 times per day
As your pain improves and you are able to include more activity and/or regular exercise into your day you can decrease how often you do the isometrics
Check out the videos below for the most common isometrics we start patients with
