How to Determine the Best Exercises for Lower Back Pain with 6 Steps

Lower back pain is a complex condition. The symptoms can appear to be similar in two of us that suffer from lower back pain, but the causes are often distinct and unique.

It can be hard to find what is causing our back pain. And even if we find the answer to what’s causing our pain, there is often not a straightforward way to solve it. Instead of trying to find the cause, it is often best to find the solution that gets our pain levels back to a tolerable level. In other words - it’s best to focus on the solution to our back pain and not on the cause of our back pain. To do this, we have to go through trial and error and many appointments with a physical therapist, pain specialist, or chiropractor. 

Riseflo, a new app for iPhone and iPad, can help you achieve similar results right from home. It will save you time and money, and help you get back to doing the things you love in weeks. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Find a warm-up that you like to do and does not cause too much pain 

Moving daily has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to reduce pain in the long run. Everyone’s body is different so it’s important to find the warm-up that will get your body ready to stretch and strengthen without causing you too much pain. The best warm-ups are those that we look forward to doing every day.

Riseflo helps you find the right warm-up for you - starting you with the easiest possible warm-up based on Tai Chi, an ancient martial art that is low impact on our joints and muscles. We will progress this warm-up over time and try other types of warm-ups like Yoga, Advanced Tai Chi, and full body mobility.

Step 2: Determine which movements cause you the most discomfort with a Movement Screen

After finding an adequate warm-up, we move on to outline which areas of our body need the most work. There are 4 key ranges of movement that affect our lower back: bending forward, bending backward, rotation, and side bending. We will test all four ranges of movement to determine which areas need the most work. You will rate how each of these movements made you feel and we’ll use this information to determine your exercise plan. 

Step 3: Target the areas that cause you discomfort with gentle movements

After the movement screen, we will start with easy and low-impact exercises to address your problem areas. For example - if we determine that bending backward is the area that needs the most work in your body, we will start with an exercise called Baby Cobra. Every Riseflo user will get exercises targeted at addressing problem areas found in the Movement Screen. After completing each exercise, you will get the option to add that exercise to your daily routine. Over time, exercises that reduce your level of pain will form a 15-minute routine you can follow daily. 

Step 4: Step up the exercise difficulty to aid in strengthening and stretching 

The more we work on a problem area, the easier that range of motion can become for us. This is why we will always re-test ranges of motion after some time passes. It’s important for us to go slowly here - we do not want to overdo it, but improve little by little. Your routine will adapt to you as you start to become stronger, more flexible, and more confident in your ability to move.

Step 5: Get into an optimal state of recovery with relaxation exercises 

We need to give our bodies a chance to repair muscles and tendons as we become accustomed to a little more movement every day. This is why we will also try different types of relaxation exercises to find the ones that make you feel your best. Relaxation exercises can range from deep breathing to body scans and light meditation. We will find the right way for you to wind down after 15 minutes of movement.

Step 6: Improve our mind and body habits little by little

Finally - as we learn to move and recover every day, we will also begin to implement tactics that help us with motivation. We will learn best-in-class techniques from habit science and pain psychology. For example, we can learn to reward ourselves for good habits, and tackle negative thoughts and emotions in productive ways. This will help us be motivated to move every day and help us be easier on ourselves when we have setbacks. 

Download the Riseflo app today and we can implement the 6-step recovery program together.