4 Gentle Exercises For Lower Back Pain and Sciatica

Last week, I had a 91-year-old client come in complaining of lower back pain and sciatica.

Massaging a significantly more senior client requires special attention to pressure and depth of treatment. I checked in often while hitting all the trigger points in his lower back and upper hips.

Being careful not cause any unwanted inflammation, I stayed clear of doing any deep elbow work in the glutes or sports stretching to lengthen and stretch out the hips.

After performing a Swedish massage to his hamstrings and quads (a.k.a. the thighs), he reported that his back pain had significantly decreased.

I then capped the 60-minute massage by demonstrating 4 gentle exercises for lower back pain.

By the way, these 4 exercises come straight out of my book, The Essential Lower Back Pain Exercise Guide.

1) The Pelvic Tilt
2) Bridge Exercise (“Hip Thrust”)
3) Bird Dog
4) Leg Swings

I decided to give this kind chap only a few gentle exercises for lower back pain because a person can only retain so much information and I definitely didn’t want him to overdo it.

Here’s a quick explanation for each of the 4 exercises:

1) The Pelvic Tilt

Part 1: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. In this relaxed position, the small of your back will not be touching the floor.

Take a deep breath and on the exhale, pull your abdominals in and push your low back toward the floor. Repeat 20 times.

Part 2: Bring both knees to your chest at the same time. Maintain the abdominal draw in throughout the entire exercise. Repeat 10–20 times.

2) Bridge Exercise (“Hip Thrust”)

Lie on your back with your hips and knees bent to 90 degrees, with your feet flat on the floor and arms palm down by your sides.

Take a deep breath in and, as you breathe out, lift your hips off the floor until shoulders, hips, and knees are in a straight line.

Hold about 6 seconds, and then slowly lower hips to the floor.

Repeat 8–12 times.

3) Bird Dog

Start with the all-fours position, tighten your hamstrings, glutes, and low back and lift to straighten your leg and opposite arm, while maintaining proper alignment.

Make sure to push through your heels. Hold for 5 seconds.

Repeat 6–10 times per side. If you need to modify this exercise, you can focus on extending your legs, one at a time, and not extend your arms.

4) Leg Swings

Front to Back: Stand perpendicular to a wall and hold on for support. Flexing your left foot, swing your left leg forward and back.

Do 10 repetitions with your left leg, and then 10 repetitions with your right leg.

Side to Side: Hold on to your hips, or hold on to the wall at shoulder level and lean into it for support. Swing your left leg to the left, and then across the body to the right.

Repeat 10 times with each leg.

Positive Results!

Just hours after giving this elderly client a massage, his granddaughter, Kerry (also a client), wrote a nice review on Genbook:

Morgan has helped my husband, my brother, and myself – we are all in our 30s with typical aches and pains. He helped my much older grandfather today, who is very happy to have no pain in his back and hips for the first time in a long time. In addition to an excellent massage, Morgan went above and beyond helping me to schedule this appointment.

So there you have it, 4 gentle exercises for lower back pain.