How To Treat Chronic Lower Back Pain: A Ten Step Guide

Back Pain
Written By

Our ten step guide will show you how to treat chronic lower back pain without wasting time and money at the doctors office. We designed this guide to help guide you out of pain, build a solid and stabile foundation for your spine, and teach you how to move in a way that limits the impact that goes through your lower back so you can get back to enjoying life...without chronic back pain.

Ten Steps To Treating Chronic Lower Back Pain

The following ten steps are designed to ease pain, improve body awareness, and improve movement and strength to limit impact that goes through our spine and solve years of lower back pain

Step 1: Gentle, Pain Free Movement

Anytime you back is feeling painful, stiff, or sore, the BEST thing you can do is to get moving. Movement not only helps to ease pain but also helps speed the healing process for a quicker recovery. The Cat/Cow is a great exercises to introduce this movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8U0mHhg0Dk&t=1s

Step 2: Abdominal Bracing

Creating low back stability is critical when treating lower back pain. The abdominal brace helps create an awareness of how to activate our lower back stabilizers. To perform, gently squeeze your abs (think bracing if someone were to hit your stomach). Hold for 10 seconds and release. Repeat for 2-3 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B0E3P5HPwQ&t=14s

Step 3: Regain Pelvic Control

The position of our pelvis plays a big role in how much impact goes through out lower back. Learning how to move and control our pelvis is important in overcoming chronic low back pain. Pelvic Rocks are a great exercise to practice control, as well as ease pain and speed healing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo4V9vH7yJk&t=5s

Step 4: Regain Glute Control

Long hours of sitting or inactivity can cause many people to lose ‘control’ of these muscles which contributes to chronic lower back pain. The Glute Squeeze and Release Exercise is a great way to regain control of our glutes and build a strong foundation for strength training. Give it a try…it’s harder than you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lHQRtsfZ1k

Step 5: Belly Breathing

Belly breathing is the fundamental movement pattern that we perform over 22,000 times a day. Proper breathing is required to engage deep core stabilizers as well as begin to create stability to limit the impact that goes through our lower back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyphdLBU_HU

Step 6: Create Tension

Tension is our best friend when it comes treating chronic low back pain. Another consequence of long hours of inactivity is our muscles can stop 'engaging' and more impact is sent directly to the joints of our low back. Learning to Develop tension in our muscles ensures that those impacts are handles by our muscles, and not our back. The full body squeeze is great exercise to incorporate through your day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3eSQfXHEvk&t=74s

Step 7: Low Impact Strengthening Exercises

Next it's time to begin a low impact strengthening routine to protect our lower back as we go through our day. We like floor exercises to start. Bridges, the deadbug, side planks, and birddogs are all good places to start).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jX9-rbHp44&t=12s

Step 8: Learn To Hinge

The Hinge is THE MOST important exercise for people with chronic lower back pain to learn. Learning, understanding and practicing this movement pattern ensures that the impact of our daily life goes through our weight bearing joints (the hips) instead of our low back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGPyD1Z1l5k&t=134s

Step 9: Learn To Lift

One of the most common ways people injure their backs is with poor lifting technique. Learning, understanding, and practicing this movement pattern will protect your back throughout the day. It's also one of the BEST ways to build glute and hamstring strength which will be very important in keeping your lower back pain from coming back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oKz0Pgl444&t=87s

Step 10: Learn To Squat

A full body, functional movement that is a good indicator of how we're moving as a whole. Learning, understanding and practicing the squat movement will help you build strength and confidence to limit the impact on your lower back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZiC83SpF8&t=4s

These ten steps are the best treatment for chronic lower back pain at home. The next step is to practice, practice, practice. Remember, the way to solve lower back pain is to learn how to limit the impact that goes through your lower back. The only way to do that is through movement in strength training. 

I've been working with adults for the last 10 years showing them how to treat chronic lower back pain...even when nothing else has worked. If you'd like to continue on your journey to overcoming chronic lower back pain, be sure to download our free strength program. It contains four, 30-minute workouts designed to give you the EXACT plan we've used to overcome years of back pain.

Limited By Back Pain? Start Your Recovery With Our Free Guide 

How To Solve Lower Back Pain In 12 Easy Steps

DOWNLOAD YOUR GUIDE HERE

Don’t let back pain keeping you from enjoying life. Be sure to check out other some of our other back pain articles for even more help:
Previous

Lower Back Pain Solutions: How To Improve Your Breathing For Less Back Pain
Next

How To Fix Lower Back Pain: Three Areas To Stretch And Mobilize