Before we start, we must define lower back pain exercises.
Exercise does not just mean stretching or lifting weights, exercises include such things as joint techniques, Acupressure techniques, Trigger Point techniques and neural stimulation.
Why? These are all techniques you can perform yourself at home.
Lower back pain exercises are there to reduce or eliminate your pain.
If all you do is stretch or exercise the muscles you will only get temporary relief.
Back ache no matter where it is, comes from a combination of both muscle and joint imbalances.
Research has shown that all back pain is the result of the accumulation of many micro-injuries over time.
The bending, lifting, carrying and poor postures that place tension on your muscles and joints.
Removing pain therefore must target all the areas involved, stretching and exercising will only cover a small portion of this.
So which lower back pain exercises work? And that is the actual problem and question; most people look for the "one" exercise that will remove all their pain, requiring minimal effort and minimal time to see results.
Now although there are many techniques, such as Trigger Point Release, which can give you almost instant pain relief, to get long lasting relief you must use more than one technique.
For example, the two most important muscles in the lower back are your hip flexors and hamstrings.
These help support the pelvis and keep it balanced.
If these become tired or tight then the pelvis will become out of balance and back ache is likely.
Once the muscular imbalances have been present, the joint imbalances develop, hence the reason for more than just stretching or exercising muscles.
If you get to your back pain quickly a few simple stretches to these muscles can bring significant relief.
However if the muscular tension has been present for a few weeks or longer, you will develop trigger points and joint imbalances.
And for most the muscular tension goes unrecognized or forgotten for months rather than weeks.
Why? In those early stages, minor stiffness or tightness is left alone, you believe that it will ease and most times it will.
Then there are other times when the stiffness turns to pain, and at this stage you have developed muscle and joint imbalances along with various trigger points in your muscles.
So looking for lower back pain exercises to correct this situation has suddenly become a little more complex.
But has it? Rebalancing muscles is a process of using stretches, neural reflexes (to stimulate their nerve and blood supply) and exercises.
Rebalancing joints is even easier; all you need to do is place the joint (such as your pelvis for lower back pains) in a state of balance and hold it there for a few minutes.
The joints will then reset their position easily.
Trigger points are again easily corrected by using digital pressure on them for 20-30 seconds and then stretching the muscle.
Acupressure can tie all these processes together and help improve your body's ability to heal.
Combined these are the most effective lower back pain exercises.
Separated and used alone they will only give you temporary relief.