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How To Fix Low Back Pain In One Day, Part 3: Release Your Lats & Spine

Although the first two methods for pain relief are going to solve the majority of your problems, some people may also need to relax their lats and mobilize their spine and trunk in order to get full restoration.
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The reason why this is, is because as we now know our body is a system of parts that each play an important functional role. When one of these parts is unable to perform the way it is designed to, other areas of the body have to make up for it and that is when we feel pain.
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Our lats (side of upper back and rib cage) tend to be one of those interconnected parts that not many people think about. Our lats, however are involved in the same body-long band that we discussed during our hamstring fix, meaning that when our lats are over activated we can again feel pain in our lower back.
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A different explanation from influencesa.com:
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“The lats are the only upper body muscle that connects directly to the lumbar spine and often get overlooked when addressing lower back pain. Most gym-goers tend to focus on the lats along with other main muscles that are seen anteriorly, but we must realize that this muscle affects structure when it becomes tight. If this muscle is overactive (tight), it can cause pain in your lower back as the tight lats tend to pull on the lumbar region of the spine.”
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HOW TO RELAX YOUR LATS

A great way to test if you have tight/overactive lats is to try out this stretch below:

Source: Moonlightwalk.com
You likely will have a bit of tightness here, but that’s ok because it can be fixed just like the hamstrings. Lie on the floor on your side with the foam roller under your lats and roll the whole side of your rib cage while applying pressure and sitting on sensitive spots. Do this for 5-10 minutes each side. It should look like this:

Now onto the spine.

The next thing you’re going to want to address is your stiff spine and trunk (thorax and abdomen). Loosening up the spine and trunk is what is happening during your time at the chiropractors. All the back cracks that make you feel good are a result of releasing tension throughout your torso.

This stiffness is caused by lack of movement, most often caused by sitting for long periods of time. Luckily it can be fixed pretty easily and very quickly.

HOW TO RELEASE SPINE AND TRUNK STIFFNESS

Do the following routine everyday, 2-3x a day. Also before and after workouts.

2 sets of:

20 Cat-cows

20 Mckenzie Press-ups

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EXAMPLES:

Cat Cow: Get into a table top position where your knees and hands are on the floor. From there you’re going to overarch your back both upward and downward while breathing in and out. Really focus on arching as much as you can in both directions to fully stretch the spine. It will probably feel sensitive at first but just continue until you finish all 20 reps.

Mckenzie Press-up: Lie on your stomach with your face down and hands by the side of your chest squeezed in close to your body. From that position you’re going to squeeze your butt hard and press your torso off of the floor while keeping your hips on the ground. Breathe in and out throughout the entire 20 reps.

That concludes this 3 part series on fixing your lower back pain in one day. By following the information supplied in these posts you will be able to not only relieve your current back pain but to also prevent future back pain.

These are the EXACT STEPS that I personally use everyday as well as for all of the clients that I train.

Once you try out these methods of recovery, please leave a review on Facebook and let me know how they helped you. It truly is a great feeling to live without constant pain.

For daily maintenance, strengthening, and prevention check out this daily 30 minute routine.

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