8 Exercises for lower back pain

Our spine is crucial for supporting us across daily life, but if it’s not prepared for what it’s being asked to do, this can lead to an increasingly common condition: lower back pain. Activities such as increased heavy lifting, or even prolonged periods sitting can over time lead to irritation of the intervertebral discs, facet joints or surrounding musculature. Lower back pain is rarely due to a single injury that needs fixing, and factors such as stress, sleep quality and previous injury can all play a role.

That doesn’t mean you need to fear, as back pain can be managed and alleviated. Staying completely sedentary until pain disappears is often what people jump to, but in fact, the right exercises will help much more. “Prolonged inactivity can increase stiffness and sensitivity, and may allow fluid to accumulate in the discs, making symptoms worse. In most cases, the back responds better to gentle, regular movement,” explains Luke Worthington, a personal trainer and sports scientist. Don’t overdo it though, as that can delay recovery too.

Discover more fitness guides and find out how to workout at home, how to build muscle healthily and how much exercise to do each day. Plus, learn how much protein you need to build muscle and browse our pre-workout meals.

How to prepare for a lower back workout

Change into something you can move freely in and find a comfortable, stable surface like an exercise mat. Start with the first exercise, and when you’ve got the hang of that one, you can progress to the more challenging exercises. If you’re managing severe pain or the pain worsens, stop and seek medical help.

15-minute lower back exercises

“Rather than relying on a long list of exercises, it’s more effective to use a small number of well-chosen movements that can be progressed over time,” Worthington says. “The aim is to build capacity gradually, starting with controlled, low-load positions and moving toward more functional, upright tasks.”

He shared the first four exercises below to try as a simple progression from floor to standing, then four more standing variations which get progressively harder (and move into exercises for performance as well as pain relief).

1. Supine: Dead bug

“Lying on your back, this exercise helps develop coordination between the abdominal wall and limbs while maintaining spinal control,” says Worthington. “It’s a good starting point for restoring control without excessive load.”

1. Start by lying on the floor with as much of your spine in contact with the ground as possible.
2. Raise your arms straight upwards towards the ceiling and raise your legs so that your hips and knees are both bent at 90 degrees. Your shins should be parallel to the ground and the ceiling.
3. Lower one arm to the ground above your head (keeping it straight) while extending and lowering the opposite leg until it’s stretched out and hovering above the floor. Push the heel away from you and exhale as you do.
4. Slowly return both limbs to the starting position before repeating on the other side.

2. Side-lying: Side plank (or modified side plank)

“This targets the lateral abdominal wall and helps improve the body’s ability to stabilise the spine against side-to-side forces,” says Worthington.

1. Start by lying on your side, propped up on your lower forearm.
2. Stretch out your legs so your feet and knees are stacked on top of each other.
3. Lift your hips so that you’re in a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders, engage the core.
4. If this is too challenging, you might find it easier to stagger the feet, bringing the top one on to the floor in front of you. Or another option is to keep the lower leg bent on the floor.

3. Half-kneeling: Pallof press

“In a half-kneeling position, this introduces an anti-rotation challenge, encouraging the core to stabilise while the arms move,” says Worthington. “It begins to bridge the gap between floor-based work and more upright positions.” It can be performed with a cable machine or an exercise band attached to something stable.

1. Start with your side facing a cable machine and lower to a kneeling position, with the outer knee forward.
2. Set the cable to about chest height and attach a handle.
3. Grab the handle with both hands and pull it to the centre of your chest, feeling the tension. This is your starting position.
4. Resisting the urge to twist, press your hands directly out until your arms are stretched in front of your chest, and return to the starting position.

4. Standing: Romanian deadlift (light to moderate load)

“This reintroduces loading through the hips and teaches the body to hinge effectively, allowing load to be shared between the glutes and posterior chain rather than concentrated in the lower back,” says Worthington.

1. Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart, holding a weight (be it dumbbells or a barbell) in your hands in front of you.
2. Engaging the core and back, hinge at the hips to push the bottom back, bending a little at the knees too, but keeping the knees over the ankles. Keep your hands close to your legs. Lower until your hands are just below your knees.
3. Drive through the feet to return to standing.

5. Standing: Pallof press

1. Once again with the side of your body to a cable machine, grab the handle or resistance band with clasped hands and step away from the machine to feel the tension. Hold the handle at sternum height.
2. Perform the standing Pallof press much like the kneeling one, but standing with your feet hip-width apart with a soft bend in the knees.

6. Standing: Pallof press with overhead reach

1. Elevate the standing Pallof press above by adding an overhead reach: After extending the arms straight out in front of your chest, keep a slight bend in the elbows and raise your hands up above your head before reversing the whole movement.
2. Engage the core and the shoulders to stabilise the whole body.

7. Standing: Split-stance Pallof press

1. To perform an even more challenging Pallof press, take a split-stance — stand with your outer foot forward in a slight lunge position.
2. Engage the core to prevent the hips from rotating.

8. Standing: Woodchop

1. Once again, start standing with your side to a cable machine. Attach a rope pulley attachment at the top of the cable.
2. Grab the rope with your hands shoulder-width apart and pull it away from the machine until you feel resistance, with your hands above the shoulder next to the machine.
3. Pull the rope across your body and down past your opposite hip, exhaling and rotate your body slightly.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Exercises on the ground typically offer more stability and are easier to control, which is why it’s advisable to gradually build up to standing exercises, which are more challenging. “This progression helps ensure that improvements in strength and control transfer into real-world activities, which is ultimately what reduces the likelihood of pain returning,” Worthington says.

Remember, consistency is key. “Small, regular inputs, whether that’s exercise, movement throughout the day, or better load management, are far more effective than occasional bursts of effort,” Worthington says.

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