Lower back pain is brutal.
It can rob you of your focus, your training, your sleep, and your patience.
According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.
In the UK, 1 in 6 adults reports back pain on any given day.
That’s a LOT of people!
One of my clients came to me convinced that her back pain was something she’d just have to live with.
It had been on and off for years. It was frustrating!
It held her back in the gym, made long days at the desk harder than they needed to be, and drained her energy.
But back pain is not a life sentence.
It’s a signal.
And once you learn how to interpret that signal, you can start taking control.
Last Monday, she woke up with a painfully stiff lower back.
By the afternoon, she was in the gym deadlifting pain free.
Here’s exactly how we did it.
1. We stretched
She spent 15 minutes in the morning working through targeted stretches.
We didn’t go straight for the lower back.
Instead, we focused on the real culprits. Hips, glutes, hamstrings, and thoracic spine.
If your hips are locked and your upper back is stiff, your lower back often takes the load.
Here are the stretches we used:
• Couch stretch for 90 seconds each side
• Half front split stretch for 90 seconds each side
• Pigeon stretch for 90 seconds each side
• Child pose to one side for 90 seconds each side
• Thread the needle for 90 seconds each side
We paired this with nasal breathing: inhale for 5, hold for 5, exhale for 5, hold for 5.
2. We stood
Too much sitting was part of the problem.
So that day, she worked standing for most of it.
She used her adjustable desk and broke up long bouts of sitting with standing work blocks.
The difference it made to how her back felt was massive.
If you’re working from home and haven’t set up a standing desk yet, this is your sign.
More energy. Better posture. Happier spine.
3. We moved
This is where most people go wrong.
They stop. They rest. They avoid movement.
She did none of these things.
Instead, she trained through it and came out the other side feeling great.
We kept her usual session in the plan, extended her warm up, added mobility drills and kept her moving between warm up sets.
By the end of the session, she had deadlifted close to the previous week and had matched everything else.
And that stiff, sore back from the morning?
Gone!
Remember, as cliché and cheesy as it may sound, but movement really is medicine.
I'm not telling you to go into the gym with a broken leg, but more often not a lot of peoples musculoskeletal issues can be fixed by simply moving through it.
This isn’t about magic fixes or miracle stretches.
It’s about understanding how the body works and giving it what it needs.
Back pain doesn’t need to control your life.
With the right plan, the right support, and the right mindset, you can take back control.
If your back is holding you back, message me today.
I’ll help you move pain free again, and stay that way!.
Quote for the day
"Be good to yourself. If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?"
- Kobi Yamada
