Recently, my husband had acute pain in his low back. He made a slight movement and suddenly he was in pain. Have you had this happen before? I thought I’d share the three moves I had him do for pain relief and mobility.

Before going into the moves, a bit of history preceding his low back pain. He was very frustrated that such a small movement created so much pain. He exercises by playing sports three times a week and has a sit/stand desk for work, so in his mind, he shouldn’t be having this problem. While these are both very good things, he has been working 60-70 hour weeks for the past six months with few to no movement breaks throughout the day. Those long hours in a stagnant position and the stress of his job is creating a lot of contraction and shortening of the muscles and fascia within his body. 

Our bodies are meant to move. You’ve probably heard the term ‘sitting is the new smoking’. I like that saying and can be applied to standing too, basically, lack of movement within the body is not conducive for mobility. 

Here is what we did to have him moving well again within a few days (where he could start putting on his own socks and get back to his sports).

Dealt with the Inflammation 

Whenever there is pain, there is inflammation. He placed ice packs on his low back, 10-minutes on and 10-minutes for 30-minute intervals, and did this throughout the first few days. I also gave him a blend of anti-inflammatory herbs. The formula contains 6 herbs based on Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as MSM. If you would like to know the name of the product I used, please email me and you can check with your healthcare provider if it’s right for you.

Gentle Movement

Since he was in an acute state I wanted to keep his movements very gentle and simple. The moves I gave him are dynamic stretches where he is doing active movement using the three planes of motion to help improve his full Range Of Motion (ROI) as opposed to doing static stretches where he would hold the stretch for about 45-seconds.

The following three dynamic stretches help to lubricate the joints and stretch the fascia to clear tension and tightness, wake up the spine and bring vitality to the body. He did these for a few minutes in the morning, mid-day and evening and is continuing to do them for prevention. Ideally, I’d like him to do the moves every hour, however, a few times a day certainly has helped.

Torso Twist

Stand with feet hip-distance apart and knees slightly bent. Twist your torso to the left while looking over your left shoulder and allow your arms to swing with your movement. Then rotate to the right and look over your right shoulder. Continue left to right in a fluid motion at a pace that feels comfortable. Try to keep your pelvis neutral.

Tail Wag

Stand with feet hip-distance apart with your hands at your sides. Stay standing upright and reach your right hand toward the outer side of your right foot. You can also think about your right shoulder trying to come toward your right hip. As you do this bend your left knee slightly. Then do the same on the left and go back and forth in a tick-tock motion as if you have a tail you are wagging. Once you get a fluid motion going, allow your head to join in the same motion (right ear to right shoulder) to get the entire spine moving.

Spinal Cord Breathing

Stand with feet hip-distance apart and knees slightly bent. As you inhale, open up the chest by bringing the arms in a goal post position and lift your chest towards the sky and look up slightly. As you exhale, bring your forearms together and round your back and drop your head slightly. Allow your pelvis to naturally move with your movement so you’re getting movement from your tailbone all the way to your head. Continue in this way matching your breath with the movement. 

Video & Two Bonus Moves

If the explanation here isn’t clear or you’d like to follow along and do the moves with me, I have created a video that includes the three moves and two bonus moves. You can access the video below.

Note: This article is for educational purposes only, please consult your healthcare provider to see if these suggestions are right for your body.