3. Frog Pose

Muscles stretched: adductors and hip flexors.
- Begin on your hands and knees with back straight.
- Slowly widen your knees until you feel tension in your inner thighs and groin.
- Lower your forearms to the floor in line with your torso, while keeping your back straight. Keep the insides of your calves and feet in contact with the floor, ankles in line with your knees. Flex your toes.
- Look forward and hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Push toward the floor with your hips to optimize the stretch.
4. Wide Side Lunge Pose

Muscles stretched: adductors and hamstrings. This stretch opens the hips and the backs of your legs, through which the sciatic nerve runs.
- Start with both feet facing forward in a wide stance, keeping your legs straight.
- Walk your hands to your right foot while bending your right knee and rotating your left foot so that the toes are pointing toward the ceiling. Make sure your right foot stays flat on the floor and your right ankle is in line with your right knee.
- Hold for 30 seconds, round up, and repeat on the opposite side.
5. Butterfly Stretch

Muscles stretched: adductors
- Sit on the floor and place the soles of your feet together, keeping your back straight.
- Press your knees down toward the floor with your hands to engage the stretch.
- Hold for 30 seconds and release. Repeat as many times as is comfortable. For a deeper stretch, bring your feet closer to your body.
6. Forearm Extensor Stretch

Muscles stretched: forearm extensors. Wait a minute…aren’t these supposed to be stretches for the lower back? Remember, strength and mobility of the entire body support the lower back when it comes to the practicality of lifting, carrying, and whole-body movement. Strengthening your arms allows stress of weight-bearing to be more dispersed to ease strain on the lower back.
- Stand with back straight, chest out, and feet shoulder-width apart.
- Extend your left hand in front of you at shoulder height, palm down.
- With your right hand, cover the back of your left hand and gently pull down the left hand.
- Press your left hand towards your body with your right hand.
- Hold stretch for 30 seconds, then release and switch hands.
A few things to keep in mind when doing these or any lower back stretches.
1. Stretching doesn’t replace the need for all-around exercise. Regular aerobic and resistance training exercises tremendously decrease the risk of lower back pain.
2. Under certain conditions, stretching may actually exacerbate lower back pain.
Inflamed vertebral discs or nerve impingement in the back or legs contraindicate some stretches. (5)
Consult a kinetic healthcare provider (i.e., physiotherapist, massage therapist, kinesiologist) before engaging in stretching if you suffer from one of these conditions.
3. Chronic lower back pain hurts and is serious in that context but it is rarely the reflection of a life-threatening condition.
Once the source of the problem is determined, a practical exercise and diet regimen can alleviate and even eradicate the pain.
Whether the cause is simple (like posture) or more complicated (like a herniated disc), pain will often dissipate when you know and remove the cause. (6)