Written in consultation with Bevan Lawson, Physiotherapist.
7 min read

Low back pain is very common. More than 80% of people have at least one episode of low back pain during their lifetime. When this back pain persists for longer than 12 weeks it is classed as 'chronic pain'. Note this relates to the length of time you have had it, not how painful or how much it affects you.

The numbers of people who have chronic or persistent pain is around 20% of the population, so you are not alone, but that can be cold comfort when it affects your life profoundly and is very distressing.

Certain factors seem to increase a person's risk of developing low back pain and for it to become persistent. These include smoking, obesity, older age, poor posture, lack of physical fitness, physically strenuous or sedentary work, job-related stress, job dissatisfaction, and mental health issues such as anxiety or depression.

The positive news is that through a targeted management approach it is possible for pain to become less of a dominating factor. This means addressing lifestyle factors such as sleep, the way the mind can worry and feel down about how your life has changed, neuroscience education about how you can influence the pain system together with increased function through a carefully managed activity program.  

A great place to start is through gentle strength and conditioning of the lower back and core muscles that support the spint to both relieve and prevent pain worsening. Here are nine stretches to help you recover from lower back pain.

To prepare yourself for the stretches that follow, you may like to consider using the Myovolt Back, on the warm-up setting to improve range of motion and mobility.

Cat stretching can lengthen the back, strengthen it, and reduce tension in the muscles.

To perform the Cat Stretch:

• • Place your hands and knees on the floor. Have your knees under the hips.
  • Arch your back and pull the belly button up towards the spine.
  • Slowly relax your muscles and let your abdomen sag towards the floor.
  • Revert to the original position.
  • Repeat the process 3-5 times per day.

This stretch is an excellent warm up for the following stretches.

Bridges are used to work the gluteus maximus muscle, which is the large muscle in the buttocks. This muscle is activated when people move their hips, especially when they squat.

Gluteus maximus, one of the most vital muscles in the body, is important for supporting the lower back.

To perform the Bridge:

• • Lay on your back, bending your knees and place your feet on the ground, hip width apart.
  • Keep your arms at the sides.
  • While squeezing your buttocks, lift your hips up off the ground, until your body is straight from the shoulders to the knees.
  • Hold for a few seconds, lower your buttocks towards the ground.
  • Continue this 15 times, then take a break for one minute.
  • Do three sets of 15 repetitions.

Bird Dog is one of the “McGill Big Three” - a series of stretches by Dr Stuart McGill to develop the core and reduce lower back pain.

To perform the Bird Dog:

• Start off on your hands and knees, as if you were for the cat stretch.
• Extend one arm, and the opposing leg out as far as you can while keeping your core braced.
• Hold for twenty seconds while continuing to breath and keeping the core engaged.
• Return slowly to the start position.
• Do the same for the other side, keeping the core engaged.
• Do three sets of five reps, each side, or until you feel your core engaged and firing.

Listen. Sit-ups suck. They’re the most overrated exercise in the world of back pain. Luckily, Stuart McGill devised an alternative to get all the bang for your buck, without banging up your back.

To perform the McGill Curl-Up:

• Lie on your back with one leg straightened, and one leg bent up towards your waist.
• Place your hands underneath your lower back, embracing a natural lumbar spine.
• Take a big breath, and as you breathe out, raise your head towards your legs like a normal curl-up.
• Swap legs and repeat, for five reps a side.
• Do three sets, or as many as you feel like doing.

The core has two sides. It’s not just the six-pack, it’s the obliques helping to hold the body and the spine in a neutral, pain-free position. The side plank is the key to keeping those twins fired and activated.

To perform the Side Plank:

• Lie down on the ground.
• Rotate to your body on whatever side you want to start on.
• Lift your body up, staying on your side with your legs straight, onto your elbow.
• You should look like a plank, body completely straight with your elbow hinging at the shoulder.
• Hold for 10, 20, 30 seconds, whatever is enough to make you sweat a touch.
• Do a couple of sets each side.

We know how difficult it is to exercise and stretch when you have lower back pain, so do the best you can. To make your life easier you could choose a few of these exercises and combine them with sessions using the wearable vibration therapy device, the Myovolt Back.

The good thing about the Myovolt Back is you can use it anywhere, anytime and it is safe to use even if you have pain. In fact, it is the only wearable vibration technology clinically proven to relieve pain in muscles and joints after 10 minutes. Read more about the technology behind Myovolt here.

Let’s continue with the remaining recovery stretches for your lower back pain.

Bridges are used to work the gluteus maximus muscle, which is the large muscle in the buttocks. This muscle is activated when people move their hips, especially when they squat.

Gluteus maximus, one of the most vital muscles in the body, is important for supporting the lower back.

To perform the Bridge:

• • Lay on your back, bending your knees and place your feet on the ground, hip width apart.
  • Keep your arms at the sides.
  • While squeezing your buttocks, lift your hips up off the ground, until your body is straight from the shoulders to the knees.
  • Hold for a few seconds, lower your buttocks towards the ground.
  • Continue this 15 times, then take a break for one minute.
  • Do three sets of 15 repetitions.

Bird Dog is one of the “McGill Big Three” - a series of stretches by Dr Stuart McGill to develop the core and reduce lower back pain.

To perform the Bird Dog:

• • Start off on your hands and knees, as if you were for the cat stretch.
  • Extend one arm, and the opposing leg out as far as you can while keeping your core braced.
  • Hold for twenty seconds while continuing to breath and keeping the
    core engaged.
  • Return slowly to the start position.
  • Do the same for the other side, keeping the core engaged.
  • Do three sets of five reps, each side, or until you feel your core engaged and firing.

Listen. Sit-ups suck. They’re the most overrated exercise in the world of back pain. Luckily, Stuart McGill devised an alternative to get all the bang for your buck, without banging up your back.

To perform the McGill Curl-Up:

• • Lie on your back with one leg straightened, and one leg bent up towards your waist.
  • Place your hands underneath your lower back, embracing a natural lumbar spine.
  • Take a big breath, and as you breathe out, raise your head towards your legs like a normal curl-up.
  • Swap legs and repeat, for five reps a side.
  • Do three sets, or as many as you feel like doing.

The core has two sides. It’s not just the six pack, it’s the obliques helping to hold the body and the spine in neutral, pain free position. The side plank is the key to keeping those twins fired and activated.

To perform the Side Plank:

• • Lie down on the ground.
  • Rotate to your body on whatever side you want to start on.
  • Lift your body up, staying on your side with your legs straight, onto your elbow.
  • You should look like a plank, body completely straight with your elbow hinging at the shoulder.
  • Hold for 10, 20, 30 seconds, whatever is enough to make you sweat a touch.
  • Do a couple of sets each side.

We know how difficult it is to exercise and stretch when you have lower back pain, so do the best you can. To make your life easier you could choose a few of these exercises and combine them with sessions using the wearable vibration therapy device, the Myovolt Back.

The good thing about the Myovolt Back is you can use it anywhere, anytime and it is safe to use even if you have pain. In fact, it is the only wearable vibration technology clinically proven to relieve pain in muscles and joints after 10 minutes. Read more about the technology behind Myovolt here.

Let’s continue with the remaining recovery exercises for your lower back pain.

Lower back rotational stretching can relieve tension in the trunk and lower back. This gentle stretch also strengthens the core muscles, which can help improve stability.

To perform the lower back Rotational Stretch:

• • Place your feet flat on the ground and bend your knees so that you can lie back on the floor.
  • Keep your shoulders flat on the ground and gently move both bent knees to the side.
  • Keep the position for between 5-10 seconds.
  • Revert to the original position.
  • Gently roll your bent knees to the other side. Hold and then return back to the original position.
  • Repeat the process twice daily, 2-3 times each side.

The squat is the glute activator you didn’t know you needed - but you do. Build up a posterior chain that can handle the day-to-day strains, and bulletproof your back, glutes and hips. To increase the difficulty use a stretchy band, or even consider adding weights.

To perform the Squat:

• • Place your feet shoulder width apart, tilted outwards (How much tilted out is dependent on comfort).
  • Also consider using an object to raise your heels off the ground, to maximise depth.
  • Brace your core and lower yourself down like you’re sitting on a chair, until you reach a comfortable depth
  • Squeeze your glutes, hold for a second, and then raise upwards, keeping tension in your glutes.
  • Do this for ten reps, for three sets. It’s also a great warm up.
  • You can increase the repetitions, while trying to increase depth. Also consider using a stretchy band around your knees to give it a little extra pop and focus on hip/glute activation.

The hip abductor muscles are strengthened by lateral leg lifts. These muscles support the pelvis and can reduce back strain.

These muscles are vital for maintaining balance and mobility.

To perform the lying Lateral Leg Raises:

• • Place your legs together and lie on one side.
  • Keep your lower leg slightly bent.
  • To engage core muscles, draw the belly button into the spine.
  • Keep the top leg straightened and extended by raising it about 50cm, while keeping it in line with your body.
  • For 2 seconds, hold the position.
  • Repeat the process 10 times.
  • Repeat the process for the other side, raising the leg.
  • Do 3 sets for each side.

As you become stronger and need more progression, put a stretchy band around your knees or ankles. Not too tense of course, but just enough to get more of a pop in your abductors.

To maintain good posture, a person must have strong back extensors.
These muscles can be found on either side of your spine.

Weak back extensors can cause pelvic and spinal support to be reduced. However, an exercise called "Superman" may help.

To perform the Superman:

• • Place your face on the ground and extend both arms in front of you.
  • Keep your legs straight and flat on the ground.
  • To engage your core muscles, pull in the belly button and lift it away
    from the ground.
  • Lift your feet and hands, trying to leave a space of six inches
    between them.
  • To avoid injury to the neck, keep your head straight and gaze at
    the ground.
  • Spread your hands and feet as far as you can.
  • For 2 seconds, hold the position.
  • Revert to the original position.
  • Repeat the process 10 times.

The key with physiotherapy exercises, including these lower back pain recovery stretches, is to do them regularly. The challenge is, these take time and energy. If you don’t have the time, or energy you could scale back the number or the frequency of the stretch you do and use Myovolt Back in conjunction with these stretches.

As you start to develop your core and back muscles, you might start experiencing delayed on-set muscle soreness, or DOMS. Myovolt is clinically proven to improve blood flow, allowing stiff and sore muscles to relax and heal inflammation. Use Myovolt Back before and after your exercises to boost your recovery and ensure you’re getting the best possible treatment. Pick and match any of these nine exercises for a back workout that won’t leave you limping and sore.

Myovolt. Good vibrations, great recovery.

Lower back rotational stretching can relieve tension in the trunk and lower back. This gentle stretch also strengthens the core muscles, which can help improve stability.

To perform the lower back Rotational Stretch:

• Place your feet flat on the ground and bend your knees so that you can lie back on the floor.
• Keep your shoulders flat on the ground and gently move both bent knees to the side.
• Keep the position for between 5-10 seconds.
• Revert to the original position.
• Gently roll your bent knees to the other side. Hold and then return back to the original position.
• Repeat the process twice daily, 2-3 times each side.

The squat is the glute activator you didn’t know you needed - but you do. Build up a posterior chain that can handle the day-to-day strains, and bulletproof your back, glutes and hips. To increase the difficulty use a stretchy band, or even consider adding weights.

To perform the Squat:

• Place your feet shoulder width apart, tilted outwards (How much tilted out is dependent on comfort).
• Also consider using an object to raise your heels off the ground, to maximise depth.
• Brace your core and lower yourself down like you’re sitting on a chair, until you reach a comfortable depth
• Squeeze your glutes, hold for a second, and then raise upwards, keeping tension in your glutes.
• Do this for ten reps, for three sets. It’s also a great warm up.
• You can increase the repetitions, while trying to increase depth. Also consider using a stretchy band around your knees to give it a little extra pop and focus on hip/glute activation.

The hip abductor muscles are strengthened by lateral leg lifts. These muscles support the pelvis and can reduce back strain.

These muscles are vital for maintaining balance and mobility.

To perform the Lying Lateral Leg Raises:

• Place your legs together and lie on one side.
• Keep your lower leg slightly bent.
• To engage core muscles, draw the belly button into the spine.
• Keep the top leg straightened and extended by raising it about 50cm, while keeping it in line with your body.
• For 2 seconds, hold the position.
• Repeat the process 10 times.
• Repeat the process for the other side, raising the leg.
• Do 3 sets for each side.

As you become stronger and need more progression, put a stretchy band around your knees or ankles. Not too tense of course, but just enough to get more of a pop in your abductors.

To maintain good posture, a person must have strong back extensors. These muscles can be found on either side of your spine.

Weak back extensors can cause pelvic and spinal support to be reduced. However, a stretch called "Superman" may help.

To perform the Superman:

• Place your face on the ground and extend both arms in front of you. Keep your legs straight and flat on the ground.
• To engage your core muscles, pull in the belly button and lift it away from the ground.
• Lift your feet and hands, trying to leave a space of 6 inches between them.
• To avoid injury to the neck, keep your head straight and gaze at the ground.
• Spread your hands and feet as far as you can.
• For 2 seconds, hold the position.
• Revert to the original position.
• Repeat the process 10 times.

The key with physiotherapy exercises, including these lower back pain recovery exercises, is to do them regularly. The challenge is, these take time and energy. If you don’t have the time, or energy you could scale back the number or the frequency of the exercise you do and use Myovolt Back in conjunction with these exercises.

As you start to develop your core and back muscles, you might start experiencing delayed on-set muscle soreness, or DOMS. Myovolt is clinically proven to improve blood flow, allowing stiff and sore muscles to relax and heal inflammation. Use Myovolt Back before and after your exercises to boost your recovery and ensure you’re getting the best possible treatment. Pick and match any of these nine exercises for a back workout that won’t leave you limping and sore.

Myovolt. Good vibrations, great recovery.

Myovolt Back fits comfortably around the lower back, side, hips or abdominals and delivers a 10 minute focal vibration treatment.