There is no quick fix for low back pain. Often, trying seek how to fix low back pain relief with back pain stretches, low back strengthening exercises, pilates, abs workouts, or just lying in bed often does more harm than good. While these methods may provide some form of lower back pain relief in the short term, the back pain soon returns and often worse than before. Now while the true “fix” to low back pain is highly individual, one of the easiest ways that we can potentially fix our low back pain is by paying attention to the position of our spine throughout the day. World renowned back pain researcher Dr. Stu McGill explains that the spine can be thought of as a wire coat hanger. If you constantly bend the hanger back and forth over and over, eventually it will fatigue and break. The spine experiences the same cumulative effect with repeated bending. Moving in the most spine conserving way possible is thus key. We can implement this in 3 steps.
The first step here is just to define the various movements that cause low back pain for you throughout the day. If certain postures or movements such as sitting for prolonged periods, tying your shoes, or performing a specific exercise in the gym induces pain, then identify these and avoid or modify them to make them pain-free. You’ll then be able to reduce the cumulative load placed on your spine and can slowly teach your spine how to move pain-free again.
The next step is to now modify your posture throughout the day to get some much-needed lower back pain relief. Here’s a simple self-assessment created by Dr. Stuart McGill. Stand in a relaxed upright posture and feel your lower back muscles with your hand. Lean back slightly until these muscles shut off and feel soft and relaxed. Slowly lean forward until you identify the point at which they become active and hard again. The objective is to discover the position that allows you to maintain an upright standing posture without engaging your low back muscles. This simple drill demonstrates how important proper standing posture is to relax your back muscles, and the same applies to sitting.
The third step to fix your low back pain is to modify how you bend over to perform tasks such as tying your shoes, picking up an object, or even performing a lift in the gym. You’ll need to implement what’s known as a hip-hinge. To help learn this, Dr. Stuart McGill recommends the “short stop squat”.
Stand upright with your feet spread shoulder width apart. Place your hands on your thighs. Keeping your spine straight, and bending at the hips, slide your hands down your thigh while moving your hips back behind you until you have lowered yourself to a point where the thumb crotch of each hand can be placed around and atop the kneecap. Your knees should fall in line mid-way between the heels and toes. Work at adjusting the curvature of your spine to a pain free or “sweet spot” posture. To prepare to ascend back up, begin by stiffening your torso by applying the abdominal brace. Then push your shoulders down and away from your ears by using your pecs and lat muscles to transmit your weight onto your knees. Now concentrate on pulling the hips forward while maintaining a stiff back, as you draw your hands up the thighs.
Practicing this proper technique ensures that you’re able to complete any of these tasks without placing added strain on your spine, in turn, offering low back pain relief. The same applies to lifts like deadlifts in the gym as well. Before lifting the weight, stabilize your back by applying the abdominal brace and twisting the bar to engage the lats. Focus your attention on simply pulling the hips forward and dragging the weight up the thighs just like we did with the short stop squat, but now with added load.
Regardless of what caused your back pain, part of your road to recovery and prevention will always be practicing spinal hygiene. By properly implementing what we went through in this video into your daily routine, while making an effort to simply move more and avoiding any static positions for too long, you’ll successfully be able to minimize the stress placed on your lower back and the pain you may be experiencing.
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Great timing on this issue – WFH has been killing my back recently.
Hope you enjoyed this one! Here’s the written article for those interested: https://builtwithscience.com/fix-lower-back-pain/ . What else are you struggling with right now? Comment below and I’ll start making videos to help you out!
I love when you make these types of videos! This info is so useful and I actually understand what I am learning! Thank you 🙌
Been having lower back pain these past days and this content differently worked. Thank you!
@Joseph Wait until you need physical therapy. You’re going to cry.
@Joseph why do I see you commenting this on every video I come upon 😐
Man this is so helpful for opening up my body before training ! Thank you
I feel like a criminal watching these videos for free. You deserve the recognition and gratitude of millions. While this may not be a replacement for physical therapy, knowledge and awareness to as many people as possible will help millions now and more to come get the help they need for this extremely common problem, especially now while everyone is doing stuff at home lol. Keep up the great work! Thanks for this gold level knowledge👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Practical info that improves the quality of life. Good job as always, Jeremy!
Hi Jeremy, can’t thank you enough of how you been supportive with your videos and helping me through lockdown to achieve my goals. Soon enough I am going to release my images of my progression in summer time and this credit will go to you and my family.
My thoughts exactly. Monsieur Ethier is a godsend.
I slipped a disc in my back around 5 years ago. I found yoga, specifically yin yoga to help tremendously. Also make sure you have a strong core by doing core exercises 4-5 days a week and listening to your body. Great advice by Jeremy as always.
Excellent instruction Jeremy. Thanks. And thanks also to Stuart McGill for helping out with his expertise.
Hi Jeremy, Some really good insight into lifting and how that crane lift will cause abnormal disc pressure from uneven distribution, Really liked that visualization. Thank u! Also, having worked through severe spine issues, I can tell you that there will be a segment of people that will find this frustrating and mildly beneficial. The holistic picture, including the Levett bros relationships that correspond with the upper cervical A/O joint, as well as skull joint dysfunction, plays into this and can be a blocking point. The spine is best considered holistically.
Thank you so much ❤. I have been following your videos on low back pain and postures and they have made a good difference in my body.
Can you please do a video on butt reduction and proper way of doing hip bridges.
Hey
can u make a video on height increase
I am 17 and height 5. 6′ and i want at least of 6 feet
Please suggest some for this
Thanks Jeremy for this excellent video! I’ve suffered from lower back pain for over 10 years. I did physical therapy and had routine chiropractic work. Those did not completely help. I’m looking forward to trying out your recommendations!
@Joseph i agree. My goal is to mimick the sea sponge. Im hoping to soften my bones with the phosphoric acid from soda, extra swallows of toothpaste, and consuming only high fructose sugar.
I’m so glad I came across this. I really appreciate how clearly and concisely you explain and with relevant sources so it’s really easy for anyone to understand. Thank you so much for doing what you do.🥺
please make a specialized video for spinal decompression. Your videos only suggests which to avoid, but doesn’t show specifically which exercises to do for decompression.
We WFH guys are having same issue 😂
Jeremy please make a video about fix asymmetrical face (in jaw, face,lips, eyebrows,eyes,nose)
he is making $$ with views
Just found your channel a couple days ago and I am astounded by the quality of your content and how tremendously valuable it is! Been helping me so much thank you! Also you have a very kind chill approachable demeanor which I find less overwhelming to learn from and pleasant to listen to even when I’m ADD.
Your videos are so concise, and well-made. Great info
Congratulations on your new gym and thank you so much for all of your quality videos… I’ve watched all of them and l’m implementing a lot of what I learned in my own personal workouts. I’m slowly progressing. I’m 50 years old and 64kgs and suspect have a height similar to yours (around 173cm). I’d love to know where I can get a tank top like the one’s you wear in your videos.
Important question: What brand of tank top do you wear? I’m a fellow Canadian in South Korea, but I’ve scoured all the major sports retailers in North America and can’t seem to find a decent fitting tank top like yours.
Where can I get that tank top that you wear in your videos (the blue or gray)?
Can someone help me?
The crazy thing about this is that the best physical therapy, and medical care of any kind, should be available to literally every one every where.
Just sitting up properly at work did an amazing job at reducing my back pain the other day. That and the four stretches you showed; Cat Camel, Psoas Stretch, Hip Airplanes and Spine Hygiene Stretch.
And also putting a slim pillow under my lower back while sleeping on my back to keep my lower spine curved in my old saggy bed.
My back felt the best it has in the morning than it has in years!
And as an aside I raised my chair off the floor a bit so that my knees are at a 90 degree or less bend and I felt almost no pain in my left knee at the end of the day. Usually it ached through out the day!
I got the “Back Mechanic” book after watching this video, and the book really is good to help you diagnose what you are doing wrong with your back movements. It also gives a series of exercises that help you strengthen and stabilize your back and hips. I was doing physical therapy at the time and I found the book really helped me understand what the therapist was doing, and ask informed questions. The book has also helped me recognize exercises that might be harmful to my back. Highly recommended.
Hey. I have a herniated disc but none of those core exersices suit me. I just feel pain the next day. I’ve been doing them for three weeks now. Should I maybe give it more time and wait for better results?
This is one of the most helpful and straight forward posts on helping heal back pain I have ever seen. Thank you so much for creating it and posting!!!!
I’ve watched so many videos after a year of pain and therapy that came out of nowhere I feel like I finally understand what’s happening and how I can prevent and treat thank you!!
@nathan sky So much the better. A lot of effort has gone into producint this video.
@Goran Kostoski If you have a a herniated disk you should first be 100% it is a a herniated disk. So you should go to visit a good physiotherapist in order to have a good diagnosis and the proper exercices to work with, instead of trying to heal yourself watching videos. Regards.
The next time I just read a blog, I hope so it doesnt disappoint me about this blog. I mean, It was my solution to read, but I personally thought youd have something interesting to convey. All I hear is a handful of whining about something you could fix in the event you werent too busy trying to find attention.