How to Heal Back Pain at Home

One in five Americans report they’ve had back pain at least once in the last month. You don't necessarily need to go to the doctor if your back pain isn’t accompanied by other known stressors. In fact, according to WebMD, most back pain goes away within 4-6 weeks with or without medical intervention.

Exercising in general helps you to gain strength again and make sure you aren’t allowing your back to become too weak. Spine-health recommends stretching, strengthening and aerobic exercise (that can all be done right at home) to help heal your back from common back pain.

Strengthening your abs and back muscles will help with back pain, included are a few exercises to try. Do crunches rather than sit-ups to release any pressure on your back. Also try doing a reverse crunch by pulling your knees to your chest working your lower abdominal muscles. To work your back, lie on your stomach and lift opposite arm and leg then switch. Also do this same move while on all fours with hands and knees on the floor.

When your back is out, stretching needs to be done for your whole body since your spine affects it all. Depending on how bad your back is there are different exercises to try and then continue with the ones that work best for you.

Starting with your neck you should do exercises that stretch the back and sides of your neck by bending your head down to your chest and then bending to each shoulder.

There are tons of different back stretches to try, included are just a few ideas. Bring each knee to your chest one at a time while lying on your back with knees bent and heels on the floor, then pull yourself into a ball by bringing your knees to your chest and your head forward to your chest. On all fours with knees and hands on the ground, round your spine up like a scared cat and then completely reverse the move and arch your back with belly rounded down.

Strengthening your hips and backside are extremely important in keeping range of motion. Standing with feet shoulder width apart, place one foot in front of the other, bend the front knee with weight on the back leg and reach down the front leg to stretch the hips. Stretch your backside by lying on the floor with feet flat on the floor and knees bent, cross one knee over the other and pull both your legs toward your chest.

Stretch your hamstrings to release stress in your lower back by standing up straight then bending the hips with legs mostly straight and reach for your toes.

Most of these exercises are quick and easy but it’s the consistency of doing these each day that makes the big difference in the long run.