NHS explain the best ways to treat back pain

Crafting time to focus on moving your body is going to help stiffness, soreness and pain. Benefits include improving range of motion, overall mobility and reducing risk of disability cause by back pain. Tense muscles can worsen pain from any existing injuries, and add more discomfort into your life. Spine-health suggests the “back flexion stretch” to address lower back pain.

This involves lying on your back, pulling both knees to the chest while flexing the head forward.

Once a comfortable stretch is felt across the mid and lower back, remain in the position between 15 to 30 seconds.

This length of time enables the muscles to lengthen and can improve a person’s range of motion.

Do remember to “not force the body into difficult or painful positions – stretching should be pain free”.

It’s best to ease into a stretch slowly, and to avoid jerky movements that “can cause muscle strain”.

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Spine-health recommends repeating the same stretch four times – any more is unlikely to elongate the muscle any further.

Do make sure that you’re stretching on a flat surface, such as the floor, that is “large enough to move freely” without the obstruction of furniture.

The other stretch to consider is the “knee-to-chest stretch”; this involves lying on the floor.

While resting on the floor, knees should be bent with both heels on the floor.

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Then place both hands behind one knee and pull it towards the chest – this stretches the “gluteus and piriformis muscles in the buttock”.

Another stretch is called the “kneeling lunge stretch” – starting on both knees.

From there, move one leg forward – so the foot is flat on the floor – and place your hands on the top of the bent thigh.

Gently lean forward to feel a stretch in the front of the other leg.

Spine-health explained: “This stretch affects the hip flexor muscles, which attach to the pelvis and can impact posture if too tight.”

The fourth stretch recommended is the “piriformis musice stretch” – again, you start by lying with your back to the floor.

With knees bent and both heels on the floor, cross one leg over the other, resting the ankle on the bent knee.

Then gently pull behind the knee (the one that has its foot to the floor) towards you until a stretch is felt in the buttock.

To ease tight muscles felt in the shoulders and neck, while sitting or standing with a straight back, gently bend your head forward.

Slowly bring the chin towards the chin until a stretch is felt in the back of the neck.

Another stretch that can provide much-need pain relief is bending the neck to one side, then the other, towards the ear.

This should be done while keeping the shoulders down and back to stretch the right way.

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