Teaching moment: Back stretches for lower back pain

There’s a right way to do back stretches for lower back pain. Joseph Pilates taught us how. We can now explain why his back stretch method is so effective!...

Often, lower back pain happens when we move the joints around the lumbar vertebra number five too much, too often, with too much load. This brings on prolapsed disc and other spinal joint problems.

A good back stretch reduces the movement around the lumbar vertebra number five and, at the same time, increases the movement around all the other vertebrae. A Pilates back stretch also uses minimal repetitions and modest loading.

There are some postural tricks to help us do this. See how it's done in the video that follows!

Caution!
The following exercises assume that you do not have significant lower back pain and it is at least 6 weeks since you last caused yourself significant pain. If in doubt, a movement and exercise professional will show you some modifications.