Low back pain is a nagging problem these days. And why wouldn’t it be? Long working hours in front of a screen, seated on a badly positioned chair with very bad posture. Elevators and escalators that rob us of any chance of breaking a sweat, even, ironically enough, if we’re on the way to a gym or fitness center. The increased automation in our lives, and the resultant decline in the volume of movement we allow our bodies, has led to an almost daily increase in the number of people suffering from lower back pain.

Are you one among that ever-increasing number of people suffering from back pain? Wondering how to deal with it? Then read on to learn about five exercises that can help.

But before you set out to try and fix the problem, it would be best to figure out what the root cause of it is. Is it bad posture, an overly sedentary lifestyle, or something else? Figuring out exactly what’s causing your lower back pain, and taking some preventive action in that regard, should be your first step when it comes to dealing with lower back pain. The exercises you’re about to read about should be your next step.

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Pelvic tilt
Pelvic tilt is an easy stretch for reducing the tension in your back muscles and helping ease back pain. You have to do this exercise twice. This is how you do a pelvic tilt:

• Lie on your back.
• Bend your knees and keep them together.
• Place your feet flat on the floor.
• Flatten your lower back.
• Press against the floor tilting your pelvis, and hold for 20 to 40 seconds.
• Breathe slowly and deeply.

Lumbar stretch

Lumbar stretch is another simple sitting exercise that you can do on a chair. You can even do this at your workplace. This is how you perform a lumbar stretch:

• Sit up on a chair.
• Stretch yourself tall.
• Now slowly roll forward.
• First roll your head, followed by neck, chest and low back.
• Roll forward till your head rests in between your knees.
• Try to go forward as far as possible.
• Hold for some time.
• Take up to three deep breaths.
• Now slowly return to your starting position.
  Do this twice for better results.

Cat pose
This is a simple and easy exercise to be done at home. You can do this in the morning and evening. Here is how you can do it:

• Kneel on the floor on all fours.
• Keep your knees hip-width apart.
• Tense your stomach muscles.
• Arch your back like a cat.
• Hyperextend the spine on the opposite direction.
• Hold the position for five seconds each.
• Repeat this three to four times.
• After doing the cat stretch, drop your stomach on the floor.
• Then get up, sit on the heels and stretch your arms in front.
• Place your arms on the floor and hold for few seconds.
• Then come back to the neutral position.

Curl-ups
Curls-ups are exercises to strengthen the back. Here is how to do it:

• Lie on your back.
• Bend your knees and keep them together.
• Place your feet flat on the floor.
• Extend your hand to place them behind your head.
• Tighten your stomach muscles.
• Lift your head off the floor, followed by shoulders and upper back.
• Then return to the starting position.
• Repeat this ten times.

Dry swimming
Another exercise to be done at home, dry swimming is done with your stomach flat on the floor, and a rolled towel under your belly. This is how you do it:

• Raise one arm, raise the opposite leg and tighten your buttocks.
• Repeat with the opposite side too.
• Repeat thrice.

All these exercises are simple and easy to perform. Before you try them, rule out any cases of slip disc or sciatica, which mimic ordinary back pain. If you are someone with a known deformity or problems in the backbone or spinal cord, you have to be very careful while trying any exercises, and it would be best if you consult a physiotherapist before doing so.

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