Living with chronic back pain can be excruciating not only physically but also emotionally. The pain might flare up at the worst time when you least expect it. According to the research low back pain is the second most common cause of disability in US adults and a common reason for lost work days. An estimated 149 million days of work per year are lost due to the low back pain. The condition is also costly with total costs estimated to be between 100–200 billion dollars annually, two-thirds of which are due to decreased wages and productivity. (1)
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and all information provided here is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. It’s a personal opinion, and it shouldn’t be taken as health/medical/legal advice.
Talk to Your Doctor First
If you have any back problem, you should first talk to your doctor or physical therapist before doing anything. If you have an issue that requires medical attention, it should be addressed before it becomes worse.
When going to the doctor:
- Get the diagnosis of what is causing your back pain by doing MRI and X-Ray. Note: X-Ray will not show issues with your muscles, only with the bones. So you should ask for an MRI to get the full evaluation.
- After the diagnosis, ask your health provider: a) what should be avoided on a daily basis: any movements, exercise, etc. b) are there any interactions between the medications you take and any spices/foods as well as exercise c) is it ok for you to get a professional therapeutic massage. d) are there any other precautions you should take.
Also Mayo Clinic recommends to make a list of:
- Key personal information, including mental or emotional stressors in your life
- Your symptoms, and when they began
- All medications, vitamins and other supplements you take, including doses
- Questions to ask your doctor
Only after you get the clearance from the doctor, you can try the following steps to ease the pain.
How to Ease Back Pain Naturally
I should mention first that I used to be a massage therapist. And there are a lot of things I learned during that time. Although I have not experienced chronic back pain myself, I was dealing with this issue every single day. So combining my knowledge of muscles, together with fitness and yoga I came up with some tips that can help to ease the back pain naturally.
- Find a really knowledgable massage therapist. Massage really works! If any of my former clients reading this, please leave a comment about how much massage can help to deal with back issues. The best way is to search for a massage therapist who is specializing in therapeutic massage. This is the only type of massage that can truly help.
- Get Biofreeze. This one magic gel helps with lots of muscle issues, not only the back pain. First and foremost it reduced the inflammation in the affected area and as a result, reduces the pain. Just keep in mind the only place you really don’t want to use it is on the neck. Your neck will not be happy about putting a freezing gel on it and it can become even stiffer.
- Use your breath. When the pain kicks in, it’s easy to tense up. Instead, try to breathe deeply. You may want to visualize the breath going to the area that hurts. This will help you relax. You can also try other stress management techniques, including meditation. (2)
- Include turmeric in your diet if you have no health issues preventing you from using it. It helps with general inflammation in the body and as a result, will help you with the back pain. For more benefits of turmeric, as well as precautions read my article here.
- Celery juice is another great way to keep your body healthy. It also might help with the inflammation in the body. Best is to drink it freshly made first thing in the morning. It is very tasty and extremely healthy.
- Strengthen your core muscles. These include abdominal muscles, back muscles, and pelvic muscles. When you strengthen these muscles, you improve your posture, which reduces the load on your back and thus reduces the aches you feel. I will provide some exercises that will help strengthen the core muscles in my other article.
- Use a foam roller to relieve the tension from the tight spots, including your back, front of the thighs, calves and hip rotators. Read the
article about how to use a foam roller […] - Concentrate on stretching hamstrings daily. But this should be done carefully, without injuring yourself. Read the post on “How to Loosen Tights Hamstrings” […]
- Do yoga to incorporate stretching together with some core work, balance, and strength. Also, yoga will teach you how to use your breath correctly. It is especially helpful during the episodes of sudden pain. Classic Hatha Yoga also includes meditation which helps with managing the stress that might be the cause of your back problems.
If you don’t have anything serious going on with your back, including these practices in the daily routine will help a lot in managing your back pain.
How Can Yoga Help?
Recent studies have shown that yoga can be as effective for chronic back pain as physical therapy. (3) The only difference is it costs a lot cheaper and you will enjoy it so much more because yoga has so many benefits!
While yoga isn’t a good idea if you have severe pain, those with occasional soreness or chronic aches may greatly benefit from yoga that can help return your back to its proper alignment. Yoga encourages your body to develop defenses against the causes of back pain, which include weak abdominal and pelvic muscles, as well as lack of flexibility in the hips. (4)
The key points to know before you start yoga:
- Talk to your doctor first to get a diagnosis of what causes your back pains and if it is ok to do yoga.
- Always do a quick warm-up before you start. Sun Salutations, as well as stretches to the sides and twists, are the best for the spine.
- Do not force anything. You should not be feeling any severe or acute pains. If you do, stop doing anything immediately and talk to your doctor.
- Make every pose a perfect balance between the effort to get to the deepest stretch and the ease into it. You should not feel too comfortable in the pose, but at the same time do not push too hard.
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Simple Yoga Poses for Back Pain
I will repeat, again and again, I don’t recommend to do yoga at home without any previous experience and without first talking to your doctor. So please make sure your doctor gives ok on what you about to do.
While yoga helps to improve the posture in general, there are some simple poses that can help relieve the back pain instantly.
Shavasana
Simply laying flat on the floor, arms slightly away from the body, while feet falling to the sides can lengthen your spine and relieve some pain. This is the easiest pose and can be done at any time when you feel back pain to get
Knees to Chest with Slow Rock
Hugging your knees towards the chest while laying down on the floor will relieve the pressure from the low back. You can rock from side to side or back and force if that feels good.
Cat/Cow Pose
Cat/Cow is the combination of two poses that are usually performed together. They are wonderful to warm-up and to neutralize the spine. Also, these poses provide gentle massage to the spine and belly organs.
- Get on your knees and arms in a tabletop position
- Knees directly under the hips and wrists under shoulders, spine neutral
- On inhale, bring the belly down, chest forward, tailbone up, look slightly up (Cow Pose)
- On exhale, round your spine, belly in towards the spine, spread your shoulder blades, release your head towards the floor, but don’t force chin to the chest (Cat Pose)
- Alternate those two poses 15-20 times
- Come back to neutral spine position.
Child’s Pose
- Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit on your heels, then separate your knees about as wide as your hips.
- Exhale and lay your torso down between your thighs
- Stretch your hands on the floor towards the front, palms down
- Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes
Traditional Child’s pose is to have the arms along your body, palms up
Figure 4
Cross the right leg over the left, with the right ankle resting on the left thigh. Slowly lift the left foot off the floor and hug your left thigh with the hands. Hold 20 to 30 seconds, and repeat on the other side.
This pose will stretch piriformis muscle and will benefit all those who have sciatic problems.
Twists
Twists are my absolute favorites. Although for some people they come very easily while for others it can be a challenge. There are many twists that you can experiment with. But the most gentle and most pleasant is the one done laying down on the floor.
- Stretch your arms in T shape on the floor
- Bend your knees and lift them to a 90-degree angle and slowly lower them to one side. You can help with the same arm to hold your knees down towards the ground. If knees don’t touch the floor, you can use block(s) so they rest on them
- Turn your head to the opposite side
- Keep both shoulders on the ground
- Hold for about 30 seconds
- Bring the knees to center
- Repeat on the other side
More Yoga Poses for Back Pain
The below list of yoga poses helps with chronic back pain in the long run when you practice them regularly. But I recommend to do them only under the guidance of a yoga teacher unless you are an experienced yogi.
Note: the reference to the poses is from YogaJournal.com
In addition, I want to mention, although it sounds contradicting, backbends are the best for your back. And the more you do them, the healthier your spine gets.
Conclusion
While treating back pain should be done under the strict supervision of your doctor, there are some things that you can do on a daily basis that will ease your pain. This includes working on reducing the inflammation and making your body stronger and at the same time more flexible. This will target the physical cause of the pain. While learning how to reduce and manage the stress will target the emotional cause of chronic back pain.
Nevertheless, whatever you do, make sure you enjoy it. Choose a couple of simple steps that you can incorporate into your daily routine. Consequently, just remind
Stay happy and healthy!
For more information on Health topic check my All About Health Category
Also find out more about Yoga
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Great yoga ideas for lower back pain! I need to incorporate these into my daily routine – I don’t have chronic low back pain but I do sit all day and can be quite stiff!
The older I get the more I start to consider yoga. Thank you for all the ideas.
Absolutely! Happy to help
Definitely going to start this yoga flow in my morning routine! Thanks for the suggestion!
Thank you for stopping by
Thanks for all the great info! I shared this with a friend who’s been suffering chronic lower back pain for a while. I know it can be debilitating.
Thank you for sharing with those who need this information
I have had back pain a lot in my life and when I do stretches like this it helps so much. This is a nice guide to help me! Thanks!
You are always welcome here!
I think I’ve said this before, but I really like how clean and aesthetically pleasing your website is. The short videos are an awesome idea. It’s so much easier to learn a pose than by just reading a book. Twists are one of my favorites too!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
Glad to know backbends are good. As I get older they are harder to do and I’ve thought of just not doing them anymore but I will be sure to keep it up
Glad I could provide that information! Just take it slow and easy, warm up your hip flexors and engage the core. The backbends will turn out to be a lot easier.
I like that you have pictures/video clips of each of the exercises — very informative post.
Thank you for stopping by
What a nice comprehensive post! I use many of these and they do work. Thank you for sharing!
I have chronic back pain and I am already using alot of these techniques. Some work better than others depending on the day. But the foam roller and yoga are my favorites. Your stretches are great too!
Yes! The foam roller and yoga are for sure the keys!
So many people have back pain. It’s nice to read about natural remedies.
I have a fused spine so chronic back pain is the story of my life! While some of these posts are impossible for me, there are a lot I can do! I’m excited to try them out.
Excellent ideas! Yoga feels soooooooo good for stubborn muscle aches/tightness!
I did my first yoga class the other day…needless to say I didn’t do so well. But I did feel better afterwards!
Excellent post, although I haven’t been able to do a back bend in 20 years 🙂 – I do love my foam roller!
These are wonderful poses and stretches for back and sciatic pain. I’ve used many of these to ease pain. I need to keep doing these even though my sciatica has cleared up, to strengthen and stretch muscles! Thanks for sharing.
Yoga and stretching are something I KNOW I should do, but I have not incorporated it yet. It’s a mindset for me. I don’t know why I can’t get into it. But, I do believe in it’s value to our overall body health. Of all the stretches, I do have to say, I love the Figure 4!!
I have heard so many good things about the use of turmeric. I am going to have to incorporate that into my diet.
Hello Anna,
I really love this article because I’m currently experiencing chronic back pain (e.g. work stress related and a car accident). This is really helpful.
I’m going to keep this article for future reference.
Jane
I am so happy this information can help! You are welcome to reference at it any time! Thank you for reading and your comments.
Such a great person! Love the pictures and the videos!
Thank you, Laura!
Chronic pain is such a hard thing to live with. I use Biofreeze often. Thanks for the tips!!
Great tips! Yoga has done amazing things for my back and my core strength. It all factors into one another!
Great suggestions for easing lower back pain, Anna! I’m on my feet a lot so I do a lot of stretching to help with pain, going to add a couple of yours in too. Thank you 🙂
Happy to provide some helpful information! Thank you for your comment!
Fantastic tips. I have back pain due to a childhood spinal injury. All of these poses are in my morning and nighttime routine and they really help.
The key to conquering the inconvenience and agony of this condition is to learn as much as possible about its causes and treatments seat cushion for tailbone pain car. This will help loosen up your muscles, and you will be ready for the day.
A lot of great information here.
Good tips ~ definitely know this kind of pain and need to do something about it. Celery juice, huh? I’ve heard several of my friends talk about it lately, but I have not taken the plunge into trying it yet. May just do it, though.
I am glad to be one of many visitants on this great site (:, regards for putting up.
I have struggled with chronic back pain since I was in jr. high, and I started out going to a chiropractor. It’s funny cause the poses you show in this post are the exact poses he showed me to do to ease the pain. Having four little kids, self care in the sense of doing exercises and yoga positions that are good for my back, is definitely getting neglected! Thank you for motivating me to get back to doing them!
Happy that this can help to get motivated. That is my purpose here <3 🙂
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