Seven lower back stretches that ease pain, and when to stop

AffordaHealth Pain Relief & Wellness, Davie and Boynton Beach. General information only; it does not replace a consultation with a physician. Published September 10, 2026, updated September 17, 2026.

For ordinary muscular back pain, the best thing you can do is keep moving gently. The seven movements below take about ten minutes, need no equipment, and are safe for most adults. Do them once or twice a day, breathe normally, and stay in the range that feels like a stretch. If a movement makes the pain sharper or sends it down your leg, stop and read the section on when to see a doctor.

1. Child's pose

Kneel, sit back toward your heels, and walk your hands forward until your forehead is near the floor with your arms stretched out. Let the lower back lengthen. Hold for 30 seconds while breathing slowly, then repeat two or three times. If kneeling bothers your knees, put a pillow between your calves and thighs. This is the gentlest stretch here and a good one to start and finish with.

2. Knee to chest

Lie on your back with both knees bent and feet flat. Bring one knee toward your chest and hold it behind the thigh with both hands, keeping the other foot on the floor. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, then switch legs, three times each side. This stretches the lower back and buttock muscles and takes pressure off the small facet joints of the spine. If it feels good, bring both knees up together.

3. Cat-cow

Start on hands and knees, hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Breathe in and let your belly drop while you lift your head and tailbone. Breathe out and round your back toward the ceiling, tucking chin and tailbone. Move slowly between the two for eight to ten cycles. It mobilizes each segment of the spine and helps most in the morning, when the back is stiffest.

4. Pelvic tilt

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat. Tighten your abdominal muscles and press the small of your back gently into the floor so the tailbone lifts slightly. Hold for five seconds, relax, and repeat ten to fifteen times. It looks like nothing is happening. It is the foundation of every other core exercise, and it teaches the deep abdominal muscles to support the lower spine.

5. Bird dog

From hands and knees, tighten your abdomen and slowly extend your right arm forward and your left leg back until both are level with your body. Keep the hips square and the back flat. Hold for five seconds, return, and repeat on the other side, working up to ten each side. Bird dog strengthens the muscles along the spine and the deep core without loading the discs, which is why physical therapists use it so much.

6. Glute bridge

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat and hip width apart. Squeeze your buttocks and lift your hips until your body is a straight line from shoulders to knees. The lift comes from the glutes, so do not push through the lower back. Hold for a few seconds and lower slowly, ten to fifteen times. Weak glutes make the lower back do work it was never meant to do, and this exercise fixes that over time.

7. Seated hamstring stretch

Sit on the edge of a chair with one leg straight out, heel on the floor and toes up. Keep your back straight and hinge forward from the hips until you feel a stretch behind the thigh. Hold for 30 seconds and switch. Tight hamstrings pull the pelvis backward and flatten the lower spine, so loosening them often reduces back pain more than stretching the back itself.

When stretching is the wrong answer

These movements are for muscular back pain. Do not stretch, and get examined instead, if any of these apply:

• The pain followed a fall, a car accident or another significant injury.
• You have numbness, tingling or weakness in a leg or foot, which suggests a nerve is involved.
• The pain gets sharper or travels further down the leg when you stretch.
• You have back pain with fever, unexplained weight loss, or pain that wakes you at night.
• You have any new difficulty controlling your bladder or bowels. That is an emergency. Go to the emergency room.

When to see a doctor

Most episodes of muscular back pain settle within two to six weeks with movement, over-the-counter medication and time. See a physician if the pain is not improving after two weeks of sensible self-care, if it is getting worse, if it has lasted more than six weeks, if it keeps returning, or if it runs into the leg. Those patterns usually mean a disc, a joint or a nerve is the source, and stretching alone will not fix them. Our back pain and sciatica page explains how our physicians find the cause and what treatment follows, from medication management to nerve blocks.

Back pain is the most common problem we treat at AffordaHealth in Davie and Boynton Beach. If yours is not settling, book an appointment online, or call either clinic. We accept Medicare, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna, and self-pay is available.

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