Exercises for Lower Back Pain at Home

Before you start

These suit ordinary mechanical lower back pain: the stiff, achy kind that comes on after sitting too long or lifting badly. They are not appropriate if you have any of the warning signs on our back pain page, particularly bladder or bowel changes, numbness around the groin, or progressive leg weakness. Those need a doctor, not exercises.

Move within a comfortable range. Nothing here should be forced.

1. Knee rolls

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat. Let both knees drop slowly to one side, keeping your shoulders down, then to the other. Ten each way, slowly.

Loosens the lower back and mid-spine, and a reasonable first movement in the morning when everything feels tight.

2. Cat–cow

On hands and knees. Arch your back gently towards the ceiling, then let it sag towards the floor, moving with your breath. Ten cycles.

Restores segmental movement through the spine and is one of the more reliably comfortable movements for an irritable back.

3. Glute bridge

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart. Push through your heels and lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders. Hold two seconds, lower slowly. Ten repetitions.

Strengthens the glutes, which matters because weak glutes leave the lower back doing work it was not designed for.

4. Bird dog

On hands and knees. Extend one arm forward and the opposite leg back, keeping your hips level and your back still. Hold three seconds. Alternate, five each side.

Trains the trunk to stay stable while the limbs move: which is what your back actually has to do all day.

5. Hip flexor stretch

Half-kneeling, one foot forward. Tuck your pelvis under slightly and shift your weight forwards until you feel a stretch at the front of the back hip. Thirty seconds each side.

Long hours seated shorten the hip flexors, and tight hip flexors pull the pelvis into a position that loads the lower back.

The part that matters more than the exercises

Movement variety beats any exercise routine. If you sit for eight hours, no ten-minute programme offsets that. Stand up every half hour, walk at lunch, and change position often.

And if your back pain has not started improving within two weeks, or it keeps returning every few months, exercises off the internet are not the answer. An assessment is. The right exercises depend on what is actually causing your pain, and there is no way to determine that from an article.