Exercises that may help reduce or prevent low back pain include:

• Aerobic exercise, to condition your heart and other muscles, maintain health, and speed recovery.
• Strengthening exercises, focusing on your back, stomach, and leg muscles.
• Stretching exercises, to keep your muscles and other supporting tissues flexible and less prone to injury.

Some exercises can aggravate back pain. If you have low back pain, avoid:

• Straight-leg sit-ups.
• Bent-leg sit-ups or partial sit-ups (curl-ups) when you have acute back pain.
• Lifting both legs while lying on your back (leg lifts).
• Lifting heavy weights above the waist (standing military press or biceps curls).
• Toe touches while standing.

Continue to Why?

Exercise and staying active may relieve low back pain and can help speed your recovery. Stretching and strengthening your stomach, back, and leg muscles helps make them less susceptible to injury that can cause back pain. Strong stomach, back, and leg muscles also better support your spine, reducing pressure on your spinal discs. This may help prevent disc injury.

Aerobic exercises—such as walking, swimming, or walking in waist-deep water—also help you maintain a healthy back. Aerobic exercise makes your heart and other muscles use oxygen more efficiently. Muscles that often receive oxygen-rich blood stay healthier.

Continue to How?

Most people who have back pain naturally feel better by doing certain motions. Some feel better sitting (their back and hips are flexed). Others feel better standing (back and hips are extended). Exercise that moves you toward your more comfortable position is usually more successful in treating your back pain.¹ For example, if you are more comfortable sitting down, exercises that bend you forward—such as partial sit-ups (curl-ups) and knee-to-chest exercises—may help you.

Talk to your doctor before you start an exercise program, and only do exercises that do not increase your symptoms.

The most effective exercise programs for chronic low back pain are designed specifically for you and are supervised.² For example, a physical therapist might teach you an exercise program that you can use at home. Then you would see the therapist every so often to check on your progress and advance your program.

• Talk to your doctor or physical therapist if you are unsure how to do these exercises or if you feel any pain when you are doing the exercises.
• Try to exercise a little bit every day.
  • Get some type of aerobic exercise, such as walking, every day. Even a couple of minutes will be helpful, and you can gradually increase your time.
  • Choose a couple of stretching and strengthening exercises that you enjoy doing, or vary them from day to day.

Ask your doctor or physical therapist whether there are additional exercises that will work best for you.

Exercises to try if your back pain is eased by standing or lying down:

• Alternate arm and leg (bird dog)
• Backward bend
• Bridging
• Hip flexor stretch
• Press-up
• Relax and rest

Exercises to try if your back pain is eased by sitting down:

• Double knee-to-chest
• Piriformis stretch
• Single knee-to-chest

Exercises to try when no position eases your back pain:

• Cat-camel
• Clamshell
• Curl-ups
• Front plank
• Hamstring stretch
• Pelvic rock, sitting
• Pelvic rock, standing
• Pelvic tilt
• Side plank, beginner
• Side plank, intermediate
• Walking
• Wall sit

Continue to Where?

For more information about exercises to reduce low back pain, talk to:

• Your doctor.
• A physical therapist.

The following resources have more information about back pain:

Organizations

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