Warming up is one of the most critical elements to your workout when it comes to exercising with a history of low back pain. 

The list of reasons I think warming up is essential for low back pain is massive, but to keep things short, here are a few of my main focal points. 

Warming up allows for an increase in blood flow:

When it comes to back pain, you want the body firing on all cylinders, and the best way to lube the joints and create stiffness in the right areas is to get the blood pumping. 

Adding gentle yet strategic movements to your pre-workout warm-up routine will do just that.

Warming-up stiffens the core:

If done correctly, your warm-up should include core exercises that will help create stiffness around the spine and reduce the sensitivity you experience. 

Warming up creates a “non-threatening” environment for your brain to snack on:

Exercise is a stressor. If you’re in pain, there are many elements to exercises that scare you or may trigger pain. You want to use the warm-up to reduce this perceived threat. 

Warming up allows you to experience a low-threat variation of exercise for the brain to feel safe and “let go” of any underlying tension or stiffness it needs to create to protect you.

This is thinking on a different level, but if you train your brain to do it, you will better understand why the medical model has failed at giving us the tools necessary to see lasting relief. 

Stretching is not an excellent first choice if you’re looking for lastin,g low back pain relief. 

The goal of a pre-workout stretching routine is NOT back pain relief. Instead, the stretching and movements we choose should focus on allowing our bodies to perform the desired task (exercise or activity) with fewer restrictions and compensations from other muscles.