I have a bad back, and I've been doing stretches and excersizes for it for over 4 months now, and VERY slowly, I've been improving, so I thought I'd share a few favorites, and see if anyone else had any interesting new ones to add to my repetoire.

Do not do the knee-to-chest exercise if it causes or increases back or leg pain.

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.

Bring one knee to your chest, keeping the other foot flat on the floor (or the other leg straight, whichever feels better on your lower back). Keep your lower back pressed to the floor. Hold for at least 15 to 30 seconds.

Relax and lower the knee to the starting position. Repeat with the other leg.
Repeat 2 to 4 times with each leg.

To get more stretch, put your other leg flat on the floor while pulling your knee to your chest.

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Kneel on the floor with one knee bent and one leg behind you. Position your forward knee over your foot. Keep your other knee touching the floor.

Slowly push your hips forward until you feel the stretch in the upper thigh of your rear leg.

Hold the stretch for at least 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat with your other leg.
Do 2 to 4 times on each side.

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Sit on the floor with one leg extend, bring the opposite leg across the extended leg with knee toward the ceiling and bent, and foot on the floor on the outside of your knee.

Twist your torso toward your bended knee gently, if you need aditional strectching, brace your arm gently against the bended knee to aid twisting.

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These are just a few of the excercises I use, but they're amoung my favorites for releaving my pain just a bit, I hope maybe it may help someone else

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When I get kinks in my back I find that stretching exercises are helpful. Stretching is a natural way to relieve muscle, joint and back pain. I usually do my stretching in the bed because I have hardwood floors which increases the pain.

Nice I always do some stretching if my muscles are in pain. It really helps me ease it thus saving me from taking some pain relievers.

I never really had back problems. But now that I'm a little older (37) I noticed when I do a llittle exercise, then my back starts to hurt a little. Probably me just getting older. And the fact that I haven't been exercising on a regual regimen.

Try some simple exercises before any exercise or activity to gradually loosen up your back muscles. Side to side twists, completed at a moderate rate, are very helpful. Try to keep your hips and waist pointing straight which keeps emphasis on the back muscles. Try getting down onto your knees and gently reaching your outstretched arms as far as you can. This is great for stretching some kinks out. As with any injury or sore muscle, complete these excercises in a gradual, moderate manner. Feel the muscles loosen and flex naturally.

I've had the same problem - I have to be careful on what and how much exercise I do, or I'll be paying for it with some severe back pain for days afterwards. And nothing turns you off from exercising quite like that!

Just walking has helped me a lot - I can't run or jog for a long time because the impact hurts too much, but walking has seemed to be a good way to start building up some strength and endurance again.

What do you usually do after having exercise? Do you used to eat your

breakfast or take a snacks? Well, I usually drink lots of water or juice after my

exercise.

In addition to doing back exercises, do you find it helpful for you to sleep on your back? It really helps me to always lie flat on my back. I guess that might be because it imitates the position of those exercises.

Thank you for posting these exercises. My back has been hurting these past few days maybe because of sitting in front of the computer for hours.

Thanks for the tips!! OMG my back seems to always be hurting.. it's so annoying. A part of me wanted to go to the chiropractor or something, but I'm scared cuz the last time I saw one of them, they popped my neck, I tensed up and it hurt soooooo sooooo bad!!

But ya.. mine's like a constant tension and it just makes doing anything hard.

I had a lot of back pain back when I was in high school, and I had to wear this big, heavy backpack with all of my school books in them every single day. What helped me was bending backwards in a way that kind of reversed the dirction that my back was used to bending.