Once you've worked your way through the best stretches for your upper back (not to mention your shoulders and hamstrings), you may want something for your lower back as well. Here are some stretches that will make your lower back feel great, or that can be added into a full-body stretching routine.
Before we get into my favorite stretches, I want to say a few words about what it means when you have a stiff back. Pain or stiffness in the lower back is really common, but it tends to respond well to almost any type of exercise. Stretching is good, but so is strengthening, and so is movement in general (like walking, yoga, or whatever you like to do to stay at least a little bit active). I have more here on how doctors and scientists currently understand back pain and how to manage it—give that a read if you're concerned about stiffness or discomfort in your back. And now, on to the stretches.
Look, it's a classic for a reason. It’s also dual-purpose, since I included this in my article on upper back stretches as well. When you do this stretch, focus on the area you’re trying to stretch. In this case, it’s your lower back, so make sure you’re rounding and extending your lower back by tilting your pelvis, not putting all the motion into your upper back and shoulders.
To do a cat/cow:
Get on your hands and knees on the floor, with hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. You should feel stable here. Use a yoga mat or cushion under your knees if you have a hard floor.
Cat: You want to look like one of those Halloween cats that’s scared and has its back rounded toward the sky, like a rainbow. Contract your abs, like you’re doing a crunch, and try to feel a stretch in your lower back (and maybe your upper back as well, but that’s not our focus here). It’s OK if you don’t feel much of a stretch, just do your best to exaggerate this position.
Cow: This is the opposite of the cat position. Keep your arms and legs stable underneath you (like upright pillars) and let your belly relax and sag toward the floor.
Go back and forth between cat and cow several times. Take your time, spending a breath or two in each position.
This one gets your lower back moving in a side-to-side direction.
Get into child’s pose. That’s the one where you’re on your knees, your butt is close to your heels, and you’re reaching out in front of you with your face close to the floor. You can spread your knees apart if that helps you get into a more comfortable position. You may feel a stretch in your lower back just from getting into this position. Reach forward as far as you comfortably can.
Walk your hands to the left side. You’ll feel a stretch on your right side. Stay here for a breath or two.
Walk your hands over to the right side, for the opposite stretch.
You can go back and forth between these positions for as long as you need.
This is both a weighted stretch and a strengthening exercise. It may look a little strange if you’re remembering all that advice not to “lift with your back,” but this is a movement that is safe for most people as long as you don’t load it too heavy. (Heavy is, of course, relative to your strength level. There are extremely strong people out there Jefferson curling barbells. But you don’t have to do that, at least not today.)
To do a Jefferson curl:
Stand on a step or a stable bench or box to make sure you can bend over without your hands hitting the floor. If you’re using a weight, hold it in your hands.
Curl your torso toward the ground. You’ll end up in a touching-your-toes position, but with a rounded back.
Let the weight of your body (and/or the weight you’re holding) pull you toward the ground.
Slowly stand up by un-curling your torso. This is like the movement that’s sometimes described in yoga classes as standing up “vertebra by vertebra.”
Repeat a few times.
As you get better at this, you’ll be able to get deeper into the stretch, which means hanging your hands a little lower. You’ll also get stronger, meaning you can start adding weight or increasing the weight you use. People who have been doing Jefferson curls for a while may do them while standing on a plyo box and holding a kettlebell. But it’s fine to use a chair or a step in your house, and whatever weight (or no weight) you have handy.
Yoga purists may say I’m describing this wrong, but nobody would know what I meant if I said “prone back extension,” so cobra is the word I’m going with. Just don’t worry about making it a perfect cobra pose, or for that matter trying to tell the difference between cobra and upward facing dog. The point is that you’ll be letting your back relax into a position that bends it in the opposite direction of the Jefferson curl described above.
Lie on your stomach with tops of your feet on the floor and your hands by your sides as if you were going to do a pushup.
Leave your legs and hips on the floor, but push upward with your arms to lift your shoulders off the floor. You can place your hands forward of your shoulders, if that’s more comfortable than having them underneath you.
Relax your back, letting your stomach sag toward the ground like you did in the cow pose.
After settling into this stretch, return your upper body to the floor. You can either repeat this stretch right away, or alternate this with a child’s pose (with or without the side-to-side movements).
