My lower back is always really tight. I've heard that you need to stretch out more than just your back muscles to make a difference. If that's true, what should I be doing to loosen things up?

Back pain is the second most common reason that patients see their doctors.  Most back pain lasts less than 6 weeks and is caused by pain from the muscles that support our spine. 

Modern society is much more sedentary than our ancestors.  Many of our jobs involve working at a computer; therefore we spend majority of our time sitting.  Many of our hobbies now involve computers or television.  Therefore we spend a lot of our nonworking hours sitting.  

Please refer to my slide presentation entitled low back pain for complete details.

Briefly, we have many muscles that connect from our thighs to our pelvis and from our pelvis to our low back and vice versa.  When we are in a position for a prolonged period, e.g. sitting, muscles that…

More