Lower back pain when sitting but not standing Reddit

Hey gamers (again),

Yesterday I shared some shoulder stretches and you guys loved it! (I hope....)

And then there were a lot of requests for me to post up a back stretch version, so here it is!

What I've done is I've basically compiled 7 stretches you can do in your office/room to help relieve your lower back tension/pain.

These exercises are less work-friendly so you might have to head for the pantry to do them, or go somewhere else with less people. (Or you could simply risk the awkward stares from your co-workers.)

Also, several of these stretches are taken from yoga so if you already do yoga, you might find them familiar.

I hope this is helpful to you!

1. Cat and Cow Pose | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Get on your fours (hands and knees) – shoulders over wrists, hips over knees

Let your spine sink in (chest closer to the floor), while breathing in: apparently this is how a cow eats

Hold the position

Now arch your back away from the ground while breathing out: this is like a cat arching up to look bigger

In relation to the ground, your spine is concave at step 2, and convex at step 4

2. Child’s Pose | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Kneel down: Knees are shoulder width apart, both your feet soles are facing away from the ground (that means your toes aren’t supporting your weight)

Bring your butt down to your heels

Bring your forehead to the floor (or as close as you can get)

Let your belly touch or come close to your thighs

Your arms can either rest by the side, relaxed OR stretch forward (as far away from your feet as possible)

3. Legs Up The Wall | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Get a pillow (or roll up a towel/blanket until it’s as thick as your fist)

Find a wall!

Place the pillow about one hand away from the wall

As you place your butt on the pillow, lie your upper body on the ground

Adjust your hips and butt such that the back of your thighs comes into contact with the wall

Your legs should straighten and lean against the wall

Your tailbone should be dropping into the gap between the pillow and the wall

4. Supine Spinal Twist | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Lie flat on your back

Raise your legs to the extent that your hips are slightly above the ground

Bend your legs such that they form a 90 degree angle, knees stuck together

Spread your arms flat and wide, fingers and palms pressed onto the floor

Slowly and gently twist your hips to the right side. The side of your right knee will be close to, if not touching, the ground

If your left shoulder lifts off, that’s fine. Do keep both shoulders as flat (to the ground) as possible.

Hold and take deep breaths

Slowly recover and raise your hips and knees to face skyward

Repeat steps 5 to 7 for your left side

5. Cobra Pose | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Lie flat on your stomach

Place hands by your chest, palms facing down

Raise and straighten your arms, while arching your back. Your hips, thighs and feet (soles facing sky) are in firm contact with the ground.

Finally, extend your neck to face the ceiling and stretch it too Hold the position

To recover, either lie back down so you can repeat the stretch… Or raise your hips up slowly to table pose to exit and get up.

6. Knee To Chest / Seated Knee To Chest | GIF 1 / GIF 2

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Lie flat on your back

With one leg bent (knee raised), cross over the other leg to form a figure 4 with both legs

See how there’s a hole formed between your legs? Put one hand through it and the other hand on the outer side of the grounded leg

Use both hands to grab the thigh of the grounded leg

Use both hands to raise and pull the legs toward your chest

Hold the position and stretch To stretch the other leg, repeat steps 2 to 6 for the other side

7. Standing Lower Back Stretch | GIF

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Stand straight, and place palms behind your hips

Lean your back slowly while keeping your head aligned with your spine, pushing your hips forward to counterbalance

Arch your spine until you start to see the ceiling (or even the people behind) Slowly return to the standing position

Alright, that is all for now! Once again, let me know if there’s anything I can improve on. :)

Just wanted to add that more exercises to help back pain can be found here. I’ve compiled 32 of them here in this blog post. 32 Compiled Back Pain Relief Exercises.

I play seated with my left foot on a yoga block. I’m also only a teen, and I had no back issues before playing seated. When I first got pain, I thought it was due to my bending my back while in thumb position, so I switched to bending from the hips while keeping a straighter back. This didn’t help the pain at all. Any ideas?

By squeezing (contracting, or flexing the muscles of) your butt, you rotate your hips forward out of a position that might have too much anterior pelvic tilt. This will flatten your back, and relieve the uneven pressure on your lumbar vertebrae that is likely causing the pain.

This can also help if your experience non-specific knee pain when sitting down, or climbing up stairs. Squeeze your butt before beginning to climb, or sit, and concentrate on maintaining the squeeze throughout.

Source: I'm a total stupid fucktard on the internet that you don't know, and have never met; but seriously try it, the worst thing that will happen is your back and knees will still hurt.

EDIT: When I was referring to pain 'when sitting down,' I meant pain that you experience when moving from a standing to sitting position; so, as you move to sit down. If your knees hurt while you are sitting in a chair, this is not likely to help.

EDIT2: Thanks a lot to all the helpful internet experts who weighed in with more technical information about dealing with lower back pain. I saw a lot of good posts trying to provide what looked like good information to me, but like I said before, I'm no expert. I'm just someone who had this problem and managed to fix it with 'this one weird trick.'

FYI: You can differentiate the people providing good advice from bad, by looking at who's laying out a path that ends with consulting a medical professional. Anyone listing one weird trick after another that doesn't end with going to get evaluated by someone with some paper behind their name, is full of shit.

Posted byu/[deleted]2 years ago