Stretches to prevent lower back injuries

Move slowly and stop if a movement sends pain down a leg, causes numbness or tingling, or leaves you worse for more than an hour or two. Mild stretching sensations are fine. Sharp or spreading pain is not.

See a clinician promptly if back pain follows a fall or accident, comes with fever, weakness, numbness in the groin or legs, or loss of bladder or bowel control, or if it wakes you at night and does not ease with position changes.

A Cochrane review concluded that exercise therapy reduces pain and improves function in chronic low back pain compared with no treatment, with the best results from programs that are supervised and tailored to the person. The American College of Physicians recommends trying non-drug treatments such as exercise first for most low back pain. A physical therapist can adapt these movements to you.

The set-up of the work matters as much as the movements, as covered in workplace ergonomics and injury prevention. A physical therapy evaluation can adapt these movements to you. For a strain at work, a cold pack from the first aid kit is a sensible first step. More prevention advice is in our workplace health guides. When a strain happens on the job, work injury care starts with an evaluation.

1. Hayden JA, et al. Exercise therapy for chronic low back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021.
2. Qaseem A, et al. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017.