How to Mobilize Your Lower Back at Home by Dr. Alex Tauberg - The Pittsburgh Chiropractor

Similar to the neck self-mobilizations that I show to my patients with neck pain, I will often show my low back pain patients how to perform low back self-mobilizations. This self-mobilization can be performed without any type of outside device or assistance although I do recommend the use of a dowel to increase the mobilization that you are able to achieve. The benefits of this maneuver is you can perform it at home on your own time and pretty much as regularly as you want. Again self-mobilization is easy to perform and works similar to how an adjustment works. The idea behind the manipulation is to get joints moving better and to loosen up the areas around the joint. This is the same thing that happens with self-mobilization maneuvers.
To perform this maneuver find yourself a surface that you are able to lay at the edge of. A bed is usually the best thing to use at home or possibly a couch. I’m going to show you how to mobilize the left side of the low back. So lay on your right side with the left side up. Bend your left leg while keeping your right leg straight. Let the left knee start to hang down over the edge. This is where you can use a dowel rod if you have one. Place it into that crevice between your top and bottom leg. Now with your torso lean back so your left shoulder becomes closer to the surface that you are laying on. Place your left hand on the area that is tight in your low back and the right hand on either your knee or the dowel rod. Gently push forward with the left hand and downward with the right hand until you feel a decent stretch through the low back. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Gently let off this position and return to your normally rotated position. Now if you are using a dowel keep the pressure on the dowel somewhat taught. While you try and rotate your hips to the left side. Be very gentle with this rotation. Your lower body shouldn’t move it is just pushing against the dowel. This is difficult to perform without the dowel and can be skipped. Hold that contraction for 10 seconds. Repeat this sequence 3-5 times. Then do it on the other side as well.
I generally recommend my patients do this exercise at least once per day. Its best to seek clearance before performing this on your own. As long as you are careful with it the risks are minimal, but don’t over do the amount of rotation and if there’s intense, sharp, or radiating pain that may be an indication to stop.
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