Effective Options for a Sore Back

Can you sit comfortably for more than 10 minutes without leaning into the back of your chair?
Read on if you'd like to sit with more comfort and less holding/pain in the lower back.

I invite you to try the following.  Bringing inquisitiveness & gentleness to the experiment, sit a little forward on your chair, as in, wriggle the butt forward so you’re no longer resting your back against the back of the chair. Legs are a little wider than or in line with the hip sockets like 2 legs of a tripod. Can you find a posture that’s nicely balanced, with little or no strain and a loose relaxed easiness in the hip sockets? 
Can your shoulders give into gravity & rest down?  

If after a while you experience niggles or pains in the hips or lumbar region, you’re not alone.  This is quite common.  I find the following movements extremely beneficial the moment I (or my clients) get aching, tightness, sharp pains in the lower back.

Lower back self care exercise - the benefits

The following simple exercise can make profound changes, it can bring increased flexibility & strength to the spine and encourages the curves of the spine to find their natural place.  It also helps to balance the muscles on either side of the hips & pelvis. All of these facilitate improved posture.

I've found it very useful for addressing pains in the hips & the lower back and a good antidote to extended periods of sitting.  One of my teachers Luann Overmyer, was able to correct her scoliosis in a short amount of time by doing this exercise*.

* p126, Ortho-Bionomy A Path to Self-Care, Luann Overmyer

Self care for hip & lumbar (lower back) pain

Definitely don’t do this movement with strain.  There's no benefits from going past your limit. Keep it comfortable. I encourage clients to imagine they’re on holiday along with inhabiting an attitude of 'no big deal'. 

Firstly locate the sit bones.  These are 2 bony protrusions at the very bottom of the pelvis.  They bear the weight of the pelvis while sitting.  To find them while sitting, (one side at a time is sometimes easier) slide a hand under the butt cheek & locate what’ll feel like a boney knuckle.
 
Now you’ve found them, remove your hand & very slowly tip the hips backwards & forwards so you’re moving onto the sit bones, over them and off ie forwards & backwards. 
Do this a few times.  

Now, sit without moving and simply notice.  Take your brain to your sit bones.  Without making any changes observe if one feels heavier than the other, more pointy than the other, maybe one is really obvious and the other is elusive?

Once again very slowly & gently tip the hips forward then backwards a few times.  Without making any changes notice if one sit bone is less smooth than the other, maybe one rolls forward a little faster than the other. 
As you’re ‘playing’ notice the movements in the spine.  You might also notice the lower back starting to feel more relaxed & less ‘twingy’.

Part 3 of this movement is to start reducing the tipping movement of the hips. 

Halve the distance, then halve the distance again, then halve again.  Continue in this way till you're barely moving and your torso arrives at a natural place of stillness. Take an easy breath, let it go and notice how your upper torso feels.  You might feel a sense of lightness, as if all the effort to sit has disappeared and a sense that the vertebrates (back bones) are stacked effortlessly and the shoulders might feel they no longer have to "hold themselves up"

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I'm interested to know if you made any discoveries, noticed any changes, experienced decreased pain in your lower back while doing this exercise?

Particularly after a few days of doing it a few times each day. 

Please feel welcome to comment below