I want to show you a simple posture for low back pain relief.
Pain. Aching. Discomfort. Doesn’t matter how we describe it.
It sucks.
I used to have a deep line of tension across my lower back.
To avoid pain & discomfort my body trained itself to move in a way that actually avoided using the area at all.
As a result everything I did, every movement I made, was inefficient.
I became aware of the severity of my condition in a very specific way while training Wing Chun kung fu in Hong Kong.
While standing in the basic Wing Chun stance, my ass would stick out. One time, my teacher actually mimicked me in an exaggerated fashion. Everyone else who was training there cracked up laughing!
It was a bit of a blow to my ego.
But what was worse was the physical discomfort.
To start to release the tension and give myself a bit of low back pain relief, I started searching for solutions. Eventually, I came across this simple posture I’m about to show you.
But it’s definitely not something just for young, fit people.
In fact, it’s even more effective for older people.
I showed my mother years ago, much to her delight.
And two days ago, my mother-in-law spent the morning carrying heavy pots of flowers and her luggage down the flight of stairs in her apartment building where the elevator was broken.
She arrived at our house with her body aching, yearning for some low back pain relief.
She asked me for any stretches she could do. But she didn’t need stretching right at that moment. Her muscles just needed to relax, in a passive way.
So I showed her the passive posture called, Static Back.
Here she is lying in the Static Back posture with her daughter and granddaughter lying next to her for support.
Don’t be fooled by how simple it looks.
She lay down for just under 10 minutes and afterward she felt like a million bucks.
Since then, in the space of two days, she has commented a handful of times about how wonderful the posture is for low back pain relief.
Here is how to set it up:
- Lie down on your back with your legs raised
- Your calves rest on a soft support (like a sofa) parallel to the ground
- Your knees and hips should both be at a strict 90 degrees
- With the last two points, this means your bum will be flush against the sofa
- You rest your arms at 45 degrees between hands resting next to your body and hands straight out to the side
At first, your lower back will probably be a little lifted off the ground.
Don’t try to push it down to the floor.
Don’t try to use your core to ‘fix’ the position.
Just lie there.
Practice weighted soft belly breathing.
Your lower back will slowly start to relax by itself.
Within 5-7 minutes you will notice your lower back starting to rest on the ground.
You will feel like re-adjusting your upper back, shoulders and arms. This will all happen without your conscious effort.
Let it happen naturally.
For this, you need to stay in the Static Back posture for 10 minutes. Then when you are ready, let both legs down on one side and lift yourself up slowly & carefully.
Of course, you could be doing a lot more. But you need just a little release first. I’ve been there. I get ya.
So, one more time: Don’t underestimate the power of this posture to assist with low back pain relief.
Give it a go.