Stretches That Got Me Moving Again After Chronic Back Pain
If you’re suffering from lower back pain, this ten-minute stretch routine might just help you regain your mobility.
On a summer morning in late June 2015, I woke up and realized that I couldn’t get out of bed. 2 days earlier a Chiropractor had re-seated a dislocation in my hip which he identified as the cause of months of lower back pain I had been suffering. He said the pain would get worse before it got better. I hadn’t expected it to leave me almost completely immobile.
Nerves had been trapped and inflamed close to the Sacro Iliac joint in my hip and this had caused a condition called Sciatica which is a severe lower back pain that radiates down through your legs. At its worst, in addition to the pain in my lower back, my calves and hamstrings were also constantly tightening and pulling making it difficult to walk.
Through months of Physio Therapy, I learned a series of stretches that loosened the muscles in my legs and ultimately eased the pain at the root of the problems in my lower back. Putting them into daily practice, I regained my ability to stand and then to walk. Such was the positive effect of these stretches that I was able to trek in the Himalayas in November that year.
