My younger cousin once asked me what turning thirty was like, and I told her, “Thirty is back pain.” (It’s a lot more than that, but I still stand by my statement.) Back pain is not a sexy subject, it’s a pervasive blight. And a lot of times, when addressing back pain, we tend to turn to painkillers or exercises that target only one isolated area for relief.

“Actually, many people have stiffness in their mid-back, also known as their thoracic spine. So it’s very important to mobilize the thoracic spin to alleviate pressure in the lower back, and the same follows for the hips,” says licensed physical therapist and pilates instructor, Dr. Natalia Rodriguez, PT, DPT, whom I enlisted for help with this piece. “It’s like a sandwich. The thoracic spine is on top; lumbar spine, AKA low spine, is in the middle; and then we have the hips. All three work together to create movement.”

Traditional ideas of how to cure back pain was to stretch and rest. However, recent research has proven that the only real way to rid back pain is actually to strengthen your supporting muscles. Those are done through consistent exercise — which I’ll be covering in a later post. This post is all about when aches set in and you’re in a very public place, like at work or on an airplane.

Dr. Rodriguez walks us through six stretches and exercises you can do to alleviate your pangs when you don’t have the luxury to lie down or sprawl out. But before you start, she has a couple of rules that apply to all stretches.

• Repeat all stretches three times.

• Hold stretches for 30 seconds to a minute. You can to feel a release in the tissue, which means either you can stretch a tad further or there’s less tension and pulling in your muscle.

• Start the stretch at an easy and comfortable place and move into greater stretch as the tissue releases.

• And most importantly, listen to you body.

Stretches you can do in a tight space (i.e. middle seat of an airplane)

Piriformis stretch

This is a deep external rotator in the hips and and trigger points in that muscle could be causing back pain.. The piriformis muscle runs diagonally from the lower spine to the upper surface of the femur, and help your legs rotate. This hip stretch will help your work out some of those trigger points.

Scoot to the edge of your seat. Keeping your spine straight, prop one ankle up on your opposite knee. Then, slowly lean forward from the hips. After holding this for 30 seconds to a minute, switch sides. Repeat three times.

Some folks may experience pain at knee when doing this stretch. If that’s the case, interlock your fingers under the knee to support to support it and partially bring the knee towards your chest. Then, lean forward the rest of the way, bending from the hips. If you have knee pain, always consult a professional

Hamstring stretch

Sometimes, tight hamstrings can cause tensions in your low back. This stretch is good for loosening up that group of muscles and tendons in the backs of your upper legs.

Start by interlacing your fingers and placing both hands palms down on your thigh. Your hands are there to serve as a support for your spine and your spine must be straight. Start mid-thigh to as far down as you can go while maintaining a straight spine. Then repeat this on the other side.

Seated chest stretch

This one is good for stretching out pectoralis muscles and promoting extension of thoracic spine.

Squeeze for your shoulder blades together and pull your arms down and away from the body. Some might encounter pain in from of shoulder. If so, you might be pulling your arms too far away from the body.

For an extra stretch, you can pull your arms slightly further away and turn thumbs away from your back so that your palms are facing the ground. 

Stretches you can do in public place (i.e. your office)

Pectoralis stretch

You might be wondering what your pectoralis muscles have to do with your lower back pain — well, your whole body is interconnected. Well, many times sitting at a computer we tend to flex through the spine and slouch, and we need to stretch the muscles on the front of the spine to help move into better posture. Slouching leads to back pain due to increased compression of the spine. 

Start by resting your forearm against a wall with a 90 degree bend at the elbow. You want to make sure your elbow is in line with the shoulder. Stagger your feet so the foot closer to the wall is forward.

Then, slowly lunge forward onto your front foot, keeping your arm in place and your chest facing squarely forward. Don’t stand too close to the wall and don’t arch your low back. You should feel this stretch in the chest.

Psoas stretch 

The psoas muscle, which connects your low back vertebrae L1 to L4 to your hip, helps stabilize your spine and maintains erect posture. When it’s tight, we tend to slouch or arch our back, two stances which create increased compression in the low back. This is a hip flexor stretch that can be done right at your desk, and can help remove some of that tension.

Shift to the edge of your chair, putting weight on one buttcheek. Then, drop the leg that’s off the seat back behind you with the knee bent. It’s important to squeeze the butt cheek that’s off the chair in order to rotate pelvis under. You’ll feel the stretch in the front hip and /thought depending on muscle tightness.  Keep other leg at a supportive 90 degrees. Don’t lean forward during this stretch, and be sure to keep your back straight. 

If you want a more advanced stretch, lean your torso and arm upwards and away from the dropped leg side. This will help you get a greater stretch into the segment of the muscle that connects into the lumbar spine.

Find neutral spine

This one isn’t a stretch but it’s extremely important. Neutral spine is actually the natural position our spines are supposed to be in, but you’d be surprised how few people actual can maintain it. Many times, we walk around with arched spines or bent spines with our tailbones slightly pointed up.

“The pelvis fits like a puzzle piece with lumbar, so if you learn where your pelvis is supposed to be, you can alleviate back pain,” Dr. Rodriguez explains. “If you can learn how to find neutral spine, you can reduce tension and promote alignment.”

Start by placing one hand low on your belly between your pelvis bones and one behind you on the sacrum, AKA your tailbone.

Then, ever so slightly, drop your tailbone so that it’s facing straight down to the floor. You don’t want to tuck your pelvis too far under, but envision you have a weight attached to your tailbone and it’s just dropping straight down. You should feel the pressure alleviate in your low back when you do this correctly.

I hope these exercises help the next time you’re in a pinch. These are great for when you need immediate relief, but for a long term solution, stay tuned for part two of this post which should be coming soon.

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