You wake up. It’s a normal day. You throw your legs out of bed and feel a gripping pain at your back.

Or you’ve been to the supermarket. You reach into the trunk for the groceries, straighten up, and can barely speak for the shooting pain from a back spasm.

Or maybe you’ve had a great holiday overseas. When you step off the long flight, looking forward to sleeping in your own bed again, you are shocked that your lower back is screaming at you.

You want to know:

• What should I do right now?
• Do I need to see a doctor?
• Is this going away?
• What exactly is wrong with my back?
• Is this something serious?
• How do I stop this from happening again?

 

You also likely want to know how you can prevent back pain from becoming the new normal.

You’ll need knowledge about how your back works if you want to resolve the issue of pain long-term. A list of quick tips won’t be enough to change the habits that could be setting you up for more pain in the future.

Let’s dive in with the good news.

This is not as bad as you think

You can learn how to relieve lower back pain. But there are a few things you must realize first.

1. Most lower back pain is acute and won’t last long. You need to numb the pain and help muscles relax. In a day or two, you may be pain-free.
2. Take heart in knowing that you are not alone. Lower back pain is super common and there are proven remedies.
3. You can fix most lower back pain at home. Yes, movement is good even when your lower back hurts. You likely have all you need — a bed or yoga mat, ice, and a hot water bottle.
4. Common lifestyle habits set you up for long-term lower back pain. You’ll thank yourself for changing them.

What kind of lower back pain do you have?

It matters whether this is the first time ever that you’ve had lower back pain or just the first time this week. How to relieve lower back pain can differ depending on whether the condition is acute or chronic. What are the best practices for your pain?

Your lower back pain may be a minor annoyance or completely debilitating.

Your pain could feel like:

1. A dull ache: A strained muscle. It feels sore and tight.
2. Intense pain: If a muscle has gone into spasm. It feels tight and inflexible.
3. Electric, burning, sharp pain: a pinched or inflamed nerve, e.g., a compressed spinal disc.

It’s easy to strain a muscle in everyday living or sport. The fix is also easy and quick.

But if a muscle has gone into spasm or you have pinched a nerve, you’ll need a more accurate diagnosis. It’ll take more time and patience to heal.

Most back pain is gone in a few weeks or months. That’s called acute. If you’re still suffering years later, it’s chronic.

You can relieve acute pain with physical therapy, gels, and anti-inflammatories. But for chronic pain, you’ll need to look into long-term causes and add a few lifestyle changes.

Either way, it helps to understand how your back works.

You may need something more than a doctor’s visit

Half of all working Americans experience back pain every year, and 80% will at some time in their lives. What is your doctor not telling you?

After checking your symptoms, a doctor may diagnose arthritis as a cause of your back pain. She’ll likely recommend you see a specialist. There are different kinds of arthritis with specific treatments, including drug therapy. Arthritis can also be managed well by the home treatments listed here.

Whatever the cause, the doctor will likely prescribe anti-inflammatories and pain relief. For acute pain, these work, temporarily.

But if you are looking for relief that is more lasting, read on.

Posture and Pilates play a role in your recovery. But when did they last come up for discussion in your doctor’s office? This is where your own research and advocacy can help you return to radiant pain-free health.

Studying up a bit on back mechanics is a good starting point. The more you get familiar with how your back works, the more you’ll be able to master and prevent your pain.

Understand how your lower back works

Your lower back is part of the pelvic girdle, a bowl-like structure that supports the weight of everything above it through a network of muscles, ligaments, nerves, discs, bones, and joints. This lower back network holds you upright.

How you stand, sit, sleep, walk, and bend every day strengthens or weakens this network and the load on your lower back. If the load is repeatedly unbalanced over time, you’ll develop back pain.

Why is your lower back prone to pain?

The 3 natural curves (neck, upper back, lower back) in your spine give it flexibility and allow it to function more like a spring than a solid column. Pain comes from the pressure on your spinal muscles and discs when you lose or exaggerate these curves.

For example, sitting with a rounded back all day can flatten the lumbar curve (lower back). If you do lots of gymnastics, you may develop an exaggerated lumbar curve (swayback). Poor posture leads to misalignment (see image below).

You can check in a mirror to see how your own spine is holding up.

Over time, as the pelvis tilts too far backward or forward, the opposing muscles get strained. Some muscles shorten and others lengthen. The whole back network loses resilience.

Misalignment also stresses the intervertebral discs. They then can no longer cushion the spine from the impact of gravity. The discs dry out, lose flexibility or rupture, pinching nearby nerves. In time this can lead to a herniated disc, creating chronic back pain.

6 lower back pain causes that might surprise you

How did you set yourself up for back pain? It’s obvious why pain comes through a sports injury or accident. But for most of us, everyday life choices are enough to build up a cause for later pain.

We stress our backs with things like:

1. Sitting hunched over a computer for a long time without a break (30% more pressure on the spine than standing or walking)
2. Smoking (anyone tell you it results in 30% less blood flow, drying out intervertebral discs?)
3. Weight gain (gravity pulls all that extra weight right on to your lower back)
4. Taking a long flight (then lifting heavy baggage)
5. Wearing constricting underwear and skinny jeans (yup, restricts natural movement)
6. Walking in high heels (sadly, it’s true)

So we go about our lives unaware that a fault line in our back is developing, just waiting for us to make one wrong move.

Common lower back pain triggers

It doesn’t take much for a misaligned or stressed spine to crack under pressure. A very small everyday move can tip you over into pain.

Have you ever twisted while reaching for something under the bed? Yow! That overused muscle has now reached breaking point.

If you want to have more power over your pain, think, “what did I just do?”

Here are some common triggers:

• Lifting heavy objects and bending at the waist rather than hip
• Twisting while picking up something heavy
• Carrying a toddler on your hip
• Falling or a misstep
• Gardening (weeding)
• Carrying a heavy bag of groceries on one side/shoulder

Look at Joe, for example. His desk job means long hours sitting. Sometimes he eats lunch at his desk. His neck and back tire easily. Text-neck is showing up. His spine is misaligned.

Joe hasn’t played tennis for a while. But he can’t resist the office team game. Out on the court, he swings for those backhanded shots. He tries his killer serve. The game goes well. They win.

Joe wakes up the next morning with his lower back in spasm.

What happened?

The tennis game was the breaking point. The prior years/decades of poor posture set Joe up for misalignment of the spine. The pain now comes from sudden muscle strain — the most common cause of lower back pain.

Day one: How to relieve lower back pain fast

“I need help now!”

OK, you are now pretty sure that you know how this happened. What’s the first thing you do for lower back pain relief?

Chill then heat it.

Within the first 48 hours, apply ice to numb the muscles and give temporary relief. A pack of frozen peas is perfect. Wrap ice in a towel so it’s not directly on the skin.

After ice, apply heat to relax the muscles and bring oxygenated blood and nutrient flow.

Use a heat pack, heating pad, or hot water bottle. A warm bath or shower also works.

Apply ice or heat for 15–20 minutes each session, as many times during the day as needed.

What are the best treatments for lower back pain?

The most important thing to do, after the first day or two of lower back pain, is to return to normal movement. But how you go about your day can help relieve pain or bring it back.

These are the activities that help:

1. Be active (this is not the time to stay under the covers)

Too much bed-rest weakens the muscles so, as soon as possible, return to your usual activities. Take the dog for a walk and get back on the treadmill.

Blood and nutrients flow to your muscles when they are engaged. Exercise helps in healing but, more importantly, it strengthens the muscular network to prevent further episodes of back pain. Of course, avoid anything that aggravates the pain.

2. Ditch your office chair

Sitting for too long puts pressure on an inflamed muscle. Try a standing desk for some of the working day so that your legs help bear your weight.

3. Take frequent breaks

Some lower back pain worsens when standing for too long. A refreshing exercise to try throughout the day is to rest with your lower legs up on a chair or bench for 15 minutes.

4. Be sure to stretch

Any stretches targeting your lower body — buttocks, legs, hips — will relieve lower back pain. Doing stretches for 20–30 minutes, 3–5 times a week is ideal.

Hamstring stretches are essential.

5. Do more yoga

Yoga has proven itself over millennia as a way to tone the whole body, including your internal organs. You’ll strengthen your body while also reducing the mental stress that comes with pain.

These yoga poses are especially recommended for lower back pain relief:

1. Pigeon
2. Sphinx
3. Legs up the wall
4. Cat cow
5. Hip flexors stretch
6. Downward-facing dog
7. Reclining Bound Ankle
8. Cobra
9. Child pose
10. Triangle
11. Knees to Chest
12. Supine Hip Flexor
13. Wall Sit
14. Bird Dog
15. Pelvic tilt
16. Bridge
17. Warrior

6. Include strength training

Do strength training at home. Lifting weights lessens lower back pain by toning your muscles, increasing your bone density, and improving joint stability. Strength training improves your balance as well.

Of course it’s important to take it slowly and with good form.

Don’t have weights? Try these bodyweight back exercises (7,8 and 9)

7. Add some low- impact aerobic exercise

Get those nutrients and oxygen circulating better to your strained back muscles with low-impact aerobic exercise. This is not the time to do HIIT (high-intensity interval training) though because the back muscles are inflamed and pain may increase with strong moves.

Walking is excellent therapy for your back or use an elliptical trainer or a step machine if you have them. Or try stationary cycling or water aerobics.

8. Keep your core strong

A strong core equals a strong back. The core muscles keep the lower back spine aligned and stable.

Next time you have to pick up something heavy, you want your core switched on.

• Variations on the plank pose are great core strengtheners when done correctly.

• Dive into Pilates training for a super-strong core.

9. Don’t trust all exercise videos on YouTube

Online exercise trainers have never met you or your back. Be careful to not do more harm than good with one-size-fits-all training.

Avoid touching toes, sit-ups, and leg lifts. These moves call on already challenged lower back muscles.

10. Call on your endorphins

Your brain knows how to relieve lower back pain. But you have to kick-start its endorphin production line and that’s where friends come in.

Endorphins are pain-blocking chemicals that are mostly released during vigorous exercise. (Think “runner’s high.”)

But there are easier ways to release endorphins. Ask yourself, “what makes me happy?”

Spread the love, start the party and see your lower back pain fly away by:

• Laughing with friends
• Hugging a friend
• Volunteering or donating to charity
• Enjoying spicy food
• Calming down through meditation
• Being in nature
• Drinking wine
• Indulging in dark chocolate
• Dancing to music
• Falling in love
• Having a sauna
• Making love
• Playing

You may want to check out Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CGT).

In CGT, the idea is to reframe your thoughts to be more “adaptive”, e.g., rather than catastrophizing and thinking, “How will I ever get through this?” remind yourself, “Nah, I’ve got this and I’ve been through way worse.” A different perspective can speed up your recovery.

11. Enjoy natural remedies for stress and inflammation

Self-care goes a long way to relieve lower back pain. These are sure to make you feel better all over.

• Do a self-massage with almond oil, sesame oil, or olive oil.

• Diffuse essential oils in your room. You can also apply oils, very diluted, directly on your lower back (especially peppermint, wintergreen, lavender, rosemary, and chamomile).
• Take an Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) bath for 20 minutes.

12. Try complementary medicine

If you’ve tried everything at home and your lower back pain persists, it‘s worth seeking some tailored advice, specific to your pain, from specialists with proven success:

• Chiropractic
• Acupuncture
• Massage
• Myofascial therapy
• Osteopathy
• Physical Therapy
• Hydrotherapy
• McKenzie method
• Gokhale Method
• Egoscue method

Be sure to see a medical doctor if you have any of these symptoms, along with lower back pain, as extra care may be needed.

• Fever
• Chest pain
• Numbness in the legs, buttocks, or groin area
• Difficulty passing urine
• Loss of bladder or bowel control
• Unexpected weight loss

FAQs:

1. How to relieve herniated disc pain in the lower back?

If you know the pain is from a herniated disc, you need to be extra careful in exercising. The goal here is to reduce the pressure on the intervertebral discs. Try these methods:

• Spinal decompression. Try hanging with your hands on a door frame or exercise bar.

• Back extension exercises — Bridge pose.
• When getting up from sitting, stand with your hands on the lower back and push the pelvis forward. Stretch your neck back with eyes to the ceiling.

2. How to relieve lower back pain during pregnancy?

You’re pregnant for the first time and wonder is this back pain normal? Yes, it’s common. Thankfully, most lower back pain disappears after childbirth.

Hormones change, ligaments, and muscles stretch, and weight obviously increases during pregnancy so the lower back is extra stressed. Your center of gravity has moved.

Again, stretching helps. Try these gentle exercises:

• Any low impact aerobic activity — swimming, walking, stationary cycling
• Kneeling lunge
• Wall push-up
• Downward-facing Dog
• Wall squat

Important guidelines for exercise while pregnant are:

• Be sure to warm up before exercise
• Don’t compress abdomen or pelvis
• Avoid inverted poses
• Many yoga poses are not recommended in the second half of pregnancy

While pregnant, also keep good posture and protect the lumbar region:

• Use a towel roll behind your lower back when sitting
• Try a pillow between your knees when sleeping
• OTC Acetaminophen is safe (but not aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen)

3. How can I relieve lower back pain while sleeping?

Your sleep can be fitful and first thing in the morning your back pain is off the charts. What can you do?

Give yourself the best shot at a good night’s pain-free sleep to allow your back to rest and recover.

Indulge in an oil massage. Luxuriate in a warm bath to relax muscles and do some soothing stretches to ease the joints.

Turn off the alarm and enjoy as much sleep as you need, at least 8–9 hours.

Why you may now need to visit a homewares store

A good mattress and pillow allow your back to rest well and in alignment during sleep so that you’ll wake up refreshed and pain-free. They should be comfortable but supportive, not too soft.

Be sure to upgrade yours if you need to:

• A medium-firm mattress with a foam topper for comfort or bedboard for support
• Memory foam pillow

How to sleep like a baby at any age

Whichever way you sleep, you need to get comfortable in bed if your back is hurting. Keep your body as aligned as possible — your ears and shoulders and hips in a straight line, not twisted. Have different size pillows available if needed, at your waistline, for example.

Placing pillows for less pain:

• If you sleep on your back, use a pillow under your knees.
• If you sleep on your side, place a thick pillow between your knees.
• If you sleep on your front (last resort), place a pillow under your stomach. Use a towel to support your forehead so your neck is not twisted.

4. Which lower back pain relief products work?

Over-the-counter products like anti-inflammatories and topical gels relieve pain fast. Think aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen.

To circumvent pain-brain signals, try acetaminophen.

Various topical pain relief gels/creams also help reduce inflammation and bring temporary relief.

How do I set myself up for a pain-free life?

By now you’re clear on how to get relief. But just about everyone you know has a back pain story. This is way more common than you knew.

You don’t want to have this pain come back again every year and only get worse as you get older. So what can you do to bid it farewell long term?

Look back in time. In traditional cultures, or even in the time of our ancestors, lower back pain was rare. It’s now twice as common as 50 years ago.

Our lives are sedentary compared to most generations that came before us. People in the past moved more than we now do every day and, as a result, they maintained stronger backs.

But you probably can’t just walk away from your desk job.

What’s important is that every day you pay attention to how you sit, stand, and what you eat. You create good habits that’ll serve you. A strong pain-free back will be your reward in the future.

These are the main tips:

1. Avoid long periods of sitting

The less you sit, the better for your health. As mentioned, try a standing desk. When you must, sit with good posture to help relieve pressure on the lower back:

• Sit for short periods, no more than 20 minutes.
• Sit in a firm high-backed chair, with armrests to help in getting up.
• Use a towel or cushion to support the lumbar curve
• Have your feet flat on the floor with your knees and hips at right angles
• Be sure your desk, screen, and chair are at the right height to avoid any strain on your lower back or neck. Research “ergonomic.”
• Stop often if you’re sitting in a car for long periods. Stretch well before continuing on your trip.

2. Watch how you stand

Gravity is doing its bit to keep you connected to the earth. But if you don’t stand well, it will pull your back structure out of line.

To allow gravity to support your back, stand with your weight evenly balanced:

• Avoid standing in one position for long.
• Avoid slouching on one leg.
• Love your spinal curves! Keep shoulders back and down, neck long, chin back, feet well planted on an even surface and your core engaged.
• Allow your weight to spread evenly through your whole foot sole.

3. Eat more of the right foods

Many doctors recommend an anti-inflammatory diet to reduce back pain, especially if arthritis is the cause. Fundamentally this is a healthy, whole foods diet, avoiding trigger foods such as gluten, dairy, and eggs.

Eat more olive oil, green tea, and brightly colored fruits and vegetables that reduce inflammation. Less inflammation in the cartilage of the spine results in less stiffness. Try to eat more broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots, and beets. Include beans, lean protein, and nuts.

Vegetables and fruits also create fiber, which is important in keeping regular elimination. Constipation is not a friend of your back.

Don’t worry, take action, be happy and pain-free

You already know how lower back pain can sap your strength and happiness. In the past, you’ve probably felt bewildered about why it came and helpless about what you should do next.

You were clueless about how your back works or how every day you were setting yourself up for trouble. You have walked, sat, stood, and slouched your way into pain. You’re not alone.

But you’ve woken up! You see your pain as a shot over the bow to warn you to take action for your health long-term.

It’s now time to ace all your newfound techniques for how to relieve lower back pain at home. Start with incorporating targeted exercise and set up your daily life to serve you, not to break you.

If you play the long game with this health strategy, your step will have more spring. You’ll feel inches taller, years younger and you’ll sleep better. There’ll be a certain lightness of being you have missed in your life.

Now that your back is stronger and your back curves look right, your whole body will breathe easier without pain. No matter your age, you’ll radiate vitality and calm.

Who knows, you may end up thanking your back. It’s set you on a path to do far more for your long-term well-being than just being pain-free. You’ve got this!

For more detail about how your back works and what you can do long-term about managing and relieving pain, check out these books:

Pete Egoscue, Pain-free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain

Mary Pullig Schatz, Back Care Basics

Esther Gokhale, 8 Steps to a Pain-free Back