Mastering Lower Back Pain

Range of motion exercises allow your joints to use their full mobility, which increases blood flow and can improve healing. Joint hygiene can be another factor contributing to lower back pain and so I think it's worth taking care of from time to time. 🙂

In the acute section, we talked about how techniques that can help reduce pain. If you have a directional preference, or if you found that your rotation was stiffer on one side than the other, you probably started doing exercises AWAY from the painful movements. (Which can help reduce pain when symptoms are high). The idea is that in the sub-acute phase, since the pain should be milder (≥5/10) we’re going to start working toward doing movements in the sensitive/painful range of motion. This is because we want to work toward a normal, painless range of motion!

When to start doing this depends on each person, but a good rule of thumb is if your pain is low, you want to start doing rotations and lower back movements that go into the sensitive range of motion. We’re gently desensitising our body to movements it might be guarded against.

Don’t forget to incorporate these exercises into a new habit. Here’s some tips to help you out:

• Link your new habit with a pre-existing one (eg. brushing your teeth, eating lunch, reading a book…) and only do it once you’ve completed your new habit.

• Give yourself a reward you’d like once you do it (eg. a candy, permission to watch a movie, social media…). This will help your brain release dopamine and subconsciously make it easier for you to repeat your new habit!