Pain in your lower back can often be reduced or eliminated with tiny movements.  You might think something small wouldn’t be effective for pain relief but, in fact, small is big.

You can relax your lower back with gentle, subtle movements.  In fact, that may be the BEST way to find muscle pain relief.

Painful or aching back muscles could be kind of ‘stuck’ and you cannot force them to relax.  They are contracted.  But you might be able to gently guide them into relaxation.

Here’s some background:

When you were born you were curled into a rounded-back position, kind of like a little ball.   After a little while you began to stretch your arms and legs.  Then you rolled over and arched your back in the opposite direction of that newborn position.

You pushed up with your arms and lifted your head.  Why?

You were preparing the muscles around your spine and torso to walk!  You were creating the natural curves in your back that you needed.  If you have ever really looked at a little child, you have seen those curves.

But now you have lower back pain.

You may have lost those natural curves but don’t worry–bodies heal all the time.

It’s important for you to know this:

Bodies are always changing and they CAN and DO change for the better!  And you might have all the equipment you need right now to make this happen.

Ta da!  You have MUSCLES!

I saw an advertisement for a back pain relief product that was designed to help people get the natural curves back into their spines.  It’s called the Posture Pump.  You might want to look at the ad just to see how your spine is supposed to move and how the curves should be.  It has some good pictures of unhappy spines.

But don’t buy it.

The ad talks about using the pump to hydrate the disks in your spine.  That means the disks will be more fluid-filled and healthier.  And when you have plumper disks and when your posture is better, you will have less neck and back pain.

Do you need the Posture Pump?  Not necessarily.  It does the moving for you.  But you aren’t using your muscles yourself so it doesn’t make your muscles any stronger.

It’s important to have strong, balanced muscles.  Pain in your back is telling you that they are not–at least, not at this minute.

But since you have MUSCLES–and you were built to USE those muscles–here’s another option.

Lay in bed, on your back, and “lift” your waist toward the ceiling.  That moves the spine, disks and muscles; it helps relax the soft tissues and hydrate the disks (it moves fluid into the disks).

Lift your waist in a rhythmic way, as you inhale.  Lift, inhale.  Relax, exhale. Get a rhythm going as you do this over and over.  Move thoughtfully and slowly–don’t force the movement.

This may take some practice but soon your muscles will “wake up” and remember how to do this movement.

If you pay close attention, you will discover that your head is gently rocking as you lift your waist.  What does that mean?  It means your cervical spine–your neck–is also moving.

Lifting your waist creates movement in your whole spine and everything which is attached to it.  (That is all of the rest of your body!)

Here’s another movement to do to help relieve your back pain:

Breathe.

Even simply breathing–filling your lungs–will cause your chin to tilt up and down.

Breathing won’t have as much of an impact on your lower back as lifting your waist will, but breathing in a deliberate manner also helps relax your back muscles.

By using these simple ways to move your spine, you can start to get the natural curves back in your spine.

These movements will help you strengthen your back and improve your posture.  They will also help you relieve your back pain.

The thing is, we don’t want to just treat symptoms.  And lower back pain is a symptom; it means something is wrong.  We want to get to the root of the problem and fix it.

We want to get rid of whatever caused the pain in the first place.

Weak back muscles, twisting and tilting from the waist, poor posture or habits that put your lower back into a ‘sling’ position are some of the potential causes of pain in your low back.

Try these gentle movements and you just may get rid of your lower back pain naturally!