Most professionals (i.e., doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors) that you go to if you have back pain focus on a lot on stretching
Thankfully, nowadays, a lot of those professionals do have you focusing on strengthening exercises which is very good…but the stretching I don’t necessarily recommend
I’d have to give you an assessment to see what I felt would be most beneficial to you and sometimes it might be stretching but a lot of times with the stretching certain muscles are tight for a reason they need to be that stiff to help support you and more than likely they’re not the muscles that are causing your back pain
Also with stretching is that a lot of muscles are already in kind of an overstretched position which is why they’re sore and that happens a lot of times with your lower back. The back muscles are tight from being overstretched to begin with and every time you ‘stretch’ them out, you’re actually exacerbating the problem.
Stretching these muscle causes them to freak out and be sore. Every time you stretch it feels good because the stretch receptors in the muscles overpower the pain receptors. So for the few minutes that stretch receptors take over, you don’t feel the back pain.
But guess what? The pain is still there and every time you stretch those particular muscles, especially the lower back muscles, you’re actually pulling on muscles that are already lengthened too much to begin with which is why they feel tight because they’re already being pulled on. So every time you pull on them, you’re just making the problem worse
Stretching certain muscles (hips, chest, upper traps) is not a bad idea. Stretching other muscles (lower back, middle back) very bad idea and they’re actually going to make your lower back pain worse in the long run unless you focus on finding what the underlying cause is that is causing the back pain and working at that instead of focusing on the symptoms.
The problem isn’t the back pain, the symptom is the back pain. Once you figure out the problem the back pain will go away
Your Friend and Coach (and ex back pain suffer).
Paul F Sweatt
Pain-Free Movement Specialist
P.S. – Would you like me to help you get pain free?
If you would, comment ‘success’ below and we will set up a success session to see if I can help you. If I can, we will set up an assessment to find out where the root causes of you back pain are coming from and design a plan of action to get you back pain free. Permanently. Do it today.