Back Stretching Exercises to Do Every Day

by orangebrompton

I rarely meet someone who hasn’t had back pain at some point in their life.  I used to be one of them.  What has been your experience?  Most of the back pain I hear about from others is not due to genetic complications but due to lifestyle.  Many of us don’t stretch properly or don’t stretch at all.  If everyone learned proper back stretching exercises, we would change the state of health and comfort around the world.  Join me in this revolution!  Okay, at least join me in this simple exercise for the back.

I have learned three very simple back stretching exercises that have truthfully saved my life.  I begin every single day by lying on my back on a straight surface.  I pull my knees up to my chest and sit there for at least one whole minute.  I am always surprised at how simple this is and, frankly, I lose confidence that this back stretching exercise really is doing anything.  But it does.  It wakes up all the muscles in a gentle way to prepare them for the rest of the day which will include sitting, standing, twisting, sitting more, walking, and getting in and out of my car.

The other thing I do every day is another mild back stretch.  I stand with both feet solid on the ground with my weight balanced.  Sometimes I reach overhead with both arms or sometimes I place my arms on my waist.  I slowly bend sideways as far as I can without any pain or discomfort.  It’s usually doesn’t seem like I’m bending far enough but however far I can bend is far enough.  Then I bend to the other side and hold each bend for 15 seconds.  Then I repeat. It looks somewhat like the photo that’s with this article.

Then I do one more thing every day. I stand with feet planted solid on the ground with my weight balanced.  I put my hands on my hips and, bending from the waist, I bend over as far as I can do.   Since I do this every day, I have advanced to the place of bending over to let my nose kiss my knees.  Hooray for me, but it has been a long journey to get that flexible.  It does not matter how far you can bend over; just bend as far as you can.  Hold that position for a count of 15 and repeat three times.

Can you believe that?  I do these three back exercises every morning and have not had the slightest back pain for over ten years now.  Prior to this routine, I ran whimpering to doctors and chiropractors on a regular basis and believed I just had a chronic bad back I had to live with.  Not so.  I have been back pain free for a long time now.