There is a lot of variability between individuals with lower back pain. What caused the injury, what movements or postures are painful, what are their goals. All of these things can be very different between individuals. There are some basic strategies, however,  that are likely to help most people, and this is what we describe below, and what is included in the free template. 

Any good lower back pain routine will have these steps built in, even if not explicit. If you want a customized program tailored to your back pain type, take the quiz to see if you qualify for the LBPfix program. At LBPfix we start with a self assessment to classify your lower back pain so that you get the stretches and exercises that are most likely to help you from day one.

Relief

This first step will likely be the most variable and the shortest. The idea here is to take a load off (pun intended) for a few days and optimize recovery as much as possible. Use relief positions, like the one in the free download, and stretching to get as much relief as possible. Check out our previous article about the best stretches for lower back pain.

Do everything you can to get good sleep. Even though you should have already been doing this, we know it is not easy to get to bed on time. Even trickier is to not over-indulge in comfort foods at this time. Now is the most important time to give your body all the nutrients it needs to repair, and comfort foods are generally devoid of nutrients, while being very high in calories and often causing GI distress. Unnecessary stress is not what you need when trying to recover. 

This is not just for traumatic injuries either, if anything these lifestyle factors may be more important for fixing chronic pain. Sleep, nutrition, stress management. These are the big pillars for recovering quickly. Another thing you can do that probably does not get enough mention is asking for help. Ask your friends or family members to help, they will be happy to do it and it will give you a little less to worry about. If you need more help, the LBPfix program is for you.

Modified Activity

Keep doing as much pain free movement as you can after an injury. Whether it is walking, cycling or even some resistance training. You can keep it light, but try not to be completely sedentary, because that may actually slow your recovery, especially with chronic pain.

Now it is time to make any necessary modifications to the provocative movements so you can get back to work (and play). Some simple strategies can have huge benefits. Lifting for example is very uncomfortable for many people with lower back pain. Very often, just changing the way you lift can completely solve this problem. If you sit at work, use extra lumbar support to make it a little more comfortable, and take breaks to stand up as often as possible. If you can get a stand up desk – even better. 

You do not necessarily have to use these strategies forever, but they may have some preventative benefits. If this is a recurring problem, it would be a good idea to try to make some helpful habits more permanent. At a minimum, use these types of strategies if you feel the pain coming back.

Stability and Strengthening

If you are able to start some basic strength exercises right away – do it. Don’t hold yourself back  just because this is the third step. As long as the pain is mild and it is not worsening from activity, getting back to things sooner will be better. 

Basic core stability exercises are often well tolerated very early on in the rehab process, so that is something we usually recommend. Things like planks and dead bugs are simple and can get you working sooner than some heavier or more dynamic exercises. 

If these types of exercises are super easy and completely pain free, you can progress to something slightly more difficult or dynamic like a farmer’s carry. Remember – small steps for progression, but that does not necessarily mean a slow progression.

Long Term Progression

If things are going well, you might be back to regular exercises and thinking about a long term progression after a week or two. If you were badly injured, it may take months to get here. Now you are doing your regular exercise program again. If you did not have one previously, try a variety of exercise modalities to see what you enjoy, but give them a good shot because you might not like it right away. 

In general an exercise program should include a minimum of 150 mins per week of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise, and twice weekly full body resistance training. There are different ways to get this done, and whichever you enjoy the most will be the one you are most likely to stick with long term.

One more note on the long term progression; it should have some form of injury prevention built into it, so you do not have to go through this again. The simplest way to think about preventing injury is to think about what caused the injury the first time. If you get better at that thing, you will be less likely to get injured again. 

So if lifting caused the injury the first time, practice lifting in a similar way while gradually increasing the load so you get stronger and build tolerance to that movement. You may also want to improve your flexibility for bending and lifting, and also increase your endurance so that you can do more repetitions.