Do you have lower back pain?  Did you know that your legs might be causing that pain?  It’s true!

I’ll give you some background and then a quick stretching tip for getting rid of the pain in your lower back:

Here’s how your body works:

The muscles in the front of your thighs and the  insides of your thighs (where they touch each other) pull on your back because they are actually attached to your pelvis and spine.  Since they are attached to your bones,  the muscles can PULL on your pelvis and spine.

Those muscles pull on your spinal bones and can cause you to have low back pain.  They can also cause bones and muscles to press on nerves.  Nerves hate to be pressed on!

When you sit a lot muscles get out of balance; some become a bit too short and others a bit too stretched.

But you can change that.

When you stand and lift a leg behind you, there will be a stretch in the front of your leg and abdomen.  It should feel like a ‘good’ stretch, a comfortable stretch.  That stretch helps take pressure off your low back.

If you lift your breastbone at the same time, it causes the curve behind your waist to become more normal–like a toddler’s curve.

Dropping your legs open frog-style when you lay on your back helps those inner thigh muscles stretch.  When they are a little longer those muscles can stop pulling so much on your lower back.

Using all of your muscles and getting them back into balance will help you get rid of pain in your lower back–and all over.