Back Stretches At Work
Being in the office all day and working feverishly behind your computer or manning/womanning the phones can really contribute to lower back stiffness and pain. I am sure that you have seen someone pointing to their back and complaining of it hurting or feeling stiff.
Because of this, a lot of people want to do back stretches at work. Many people have the impression that this stiffness or pain is due to the proverbial “weak” back muscles and so many try to solve this problem by “working their back”. However, while this may be good, it may not solve the problem completely.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for a set of strong spinal extensors. But the low back is a little more complex than that. The cause of the stiffness and pain you may be feeling could very well be coming from areas that you may not have considered. Although you may be feeling the pain on the backside of your torso, that may not be where the problem really is.
Without going into a lot of detail I would like to suggest that you consider that your back has several sides to it and that each side has muscles that attach to it and do different things. When I am coaching my patients how to do their back stretches at work I really emphasize the psoas (so-as) muscle.
The Psoas muscle is a major back muscle that attaches to the “front” of your back. Well, it attaches to the front and sides of your spine. This muscle is not strengthened by doing back extensions. In fact, when the psoas causes back pain, it’s rarely due to the muscle being weak at all.
The problem that most people have is that their psoas is shortened and tight. This comes from sitting for long periods of time in what’s called a flexed position. When we stay in a seated position for long periods of time over the course of days, months, or years, one thing that happens it that our flexing muscles get tight. When one group of muscles get tight relative to their opposing group of muscles, the result is usually pain.
So, what to do about this psoas? Stretch it. And when stretching the psoas muscle, remember not to be too aggressive. I pulled this video from YouTube and it shows the principles of how to perform a psoas stretch pretty good. When doing your back exercises at work, depending on what you are wearing that day, you may or may not find this easy to do. But, don’t fret, you can do this stretch when you get home.
2 Comments
Hi Bryan, this is a great post about stretching the lower back. The Psoas really is an overlooked muscle when it comes to back pain. I find that foam rolling this muscle can also help a great deal in terms of loosening it up.
Great post!
Anna
Totally, Anna. Thanks for the suggestion of the foam roller. For all who haven’t used them, they are a great tool that has a lot of different applications. But, as Anna has pointed out, they are excellent in helping to loosen tight muscles!