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10 exercises for postpartum back pain
Back pain and postpartum is a common love story, unfortunately. But simple adjustments and stretches can really be a game changer if done consistently.
In this blog post, I share 10 exercises to help you relive these nasty tensions in your back. Holding a baby around and birth recovery by itself, can trigger these discomforts.
Let’s dive in!
By Leslie Abraham
Let me drive you through these 10 exercises for postpartum back pain. For each one you’ll find a descriptive picture and some explanations to set you up.
Table of Contents
Upper Back Mobility: T-Spine rotations
One of the staple of back health is thoracic spine mobility or upper back mobility. To avoid building up tensions in your lower back and neck, and suffer from overall postpartum back pain, this area should stay mobile.
Start on a quadruped position, with your hands directly below your shoulders. Bring one hand on the back of your neck. Keep your chin down, your lower ribs stacked and your shoulders away from your ears.
Drive the movement with your elbow, bring it up and then down to your opposite wrist.
Repeat 5-10 times on each side.
Shoulder mobility
A lack of mobility in the shoulders can trigger pain, tensions and discomforts in your neck, tensions in your jaw, headaches starting at the base of your head and migraines. A dysfunctional shoulder mobility can also result in tendinitis and other inflammations around your shoulder joint. This, all together, would prepare the perfect environment for postpartum back pain.
Start seated with your back against a wall or a sturdy piece of furniture. Use a soft ball or a pillow. Take it in your hands.
Keep your chin down, your shoulders away from your ears, and a soft bend in your elbows. While breathing out, bring the ball up to the wall, engaging your deep core muscles to stabilize your trunk and shoulders. Breathe in, bring the ball down. You can add a gentle pelvic floor lift when breathing out and consciously relaxing it when breathing in.
Hip stretch
Hip mobility is a big topic in the pregnancy and postpartum world. So much is happening around these joints during your whole pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery. And postpartum back pain, and especially lower back pain, has a lot to do with tight hips and/or dysfunctional hips.
This exercise is a must-loved with my clients. If you had tearing, be gentle and push yourself slowly against the ball.
Use an exercise ball or the seat of a chair. Place your forearms on it and seat in a comfy cross-legged position just in front.
Place your forehead on your arms, keeping your chin down. Gently roll your hip bones forward while keeping a neutral back. Stay there while you feel a gentle stretch – you shouldn’t feel pain at any moment, that’s a sign that you went too far. Breathe and relax.
Thread the Needle
Another upper back stretch. This one actually helps with lower back pain and neck tensions too. It’s a popular one among my breastfeeding clients. We tend to develop a lot of tensions between the shoulder blades and in the neck when feeding baby. This can cause a lot of discomforts in your daily life and we tend to develop bad posture habits around them. These bad habits are most often the cause of postpartum back pain.
Start on a quadruped position with your hands directly below your shoulders. Bring one hand across and between your opposite hand and knee. Bring your shoulder and head to the mat while looking at your hand. Drive with your hand, reach as much as you can. Feel the tensions relaxing in your mid back. Stay there and breathe.
Switch sides.
Hips, Hamstrings and Lower Back
What a relief is this exercise! If you had tearing or c-section, don’t spread your legs too wide and if there is any discomforts, discontinue this exercise.
Start with your legs spread out. You can add 1 or 2 yoga blocks or pillows, in front of you to place your hands on. Bend forward by pushing your hips back, unlocking your knee caps and bring your hands on the yoga block/pillows or on the mat. Relax your head down and keep your chin down.
Try to move your hands from one side to the other or grab your elbows. Let your body weight do the work. Relax here while breathing. You feel some gentle stretch in your hamstrings and lower back. If you feel pain or discomfort, it’s a sign that you have gone too far. Add one more block or pillow for more support.
Back Rolls
If you used an exercise ball for giving birth or during your pregnancy, well it’s time to use it again! This one is perfect if you’re looking for some back self-massage and relieving tensions in the upper part of your thorax and shoulders. Perfect to do after feeding baby!
Start seated in front on the ball. From your feet, push your back against the ball and roll back. Bring your chin down and the back of your head against the ball. Let your hands go to the sides and your shoulders opening.
You can roll back and forth, side to side and do a little self-massage where you feel you need it. Breathe and insist on breathing out to engage your deep core muscles and support your back. When you feel better, roll back to your starting position cautiously.
Side Stretch
Most of the time, when we try to stretch the sides of our trunk we tend to bend to the side. That’s a big no. You always want to seek length in your spine without adding any more twists or side bends. This exercise is perfect if you feel any one-sided postpartum back pain.
You can do this one seated in a cross-legged position. Bring one hand up to the sky, while keeping your shoulder away from your ears. Place your opposite hand on your lower ribs to control and avoid any flare ups. Every time you breathe out, reach up a bit further and feel a nice stretch. Relax down and repeat on the other side.
Sciatica stretch
A must-know!! Sciatica like pain and discomfort, is something very common among my postpartum moms suffering form postpartum back pain. This simple stretch brings great relief and help to open the sacroiliac joints and stretch the muscles involved in irritating your sciatic nerve.
Start on a quadruped position, bring your right knee to the middle of your mat and a bit forward. Bring your left knee right behind. from your hands, push yourself back and sit on the mat. You can add a yoga block or pillow to sit on if needed.
Stay there, chin down, neutral spine and breathe. Adjust your sit if you feel too much discomfort.
Come back to your starting position and repeat on the other side.
Lower back relaxation
A great way to relax your back and work on your posture. The feedback provided by the floor and your mat will help you understand where the tensions lie and how you can adjust your posture to feel less postpartum back pain.
Use a chair or a piece of furniture. Lie on your back with your legs and feet on the seat of the chair. Keep your hips and knees at 90 degrees. You can bring your hands up to your head or leave them by your sides. Imagine an invisible string is attached to the crown of your head and pulling you up. Relax your back on the mat, vertebrae per vertebrae. Start breathing and gently engaging your pelvic floor up on each exhale. No strong lift, just a gentle one. Relax it down when breathing in. Focus more on breathing out all the way and naturally breathe in without forcing it.
Child's pose
An all time favorite! Good for tight hips, shoulders and postpartum back pain overall!
Start on a quadruped position, bring your hips back and butt to your heels. Reach forward with your hands, as much as you can without being uncomfortable. Plant your “claws” in the mat for a better stretch. Place your forehead to the mat and keep your chin down.
Stay there and breathe deeply, focusing on breathing out and engaging your deep core muscles. When you feel relaxed, come back up by walking your way up forward with your hands.
BONUS!
Other remedies like food supplements can help fight again any type of inflammation that could be leading to back pain.
Especially after giving birth, thriving on an anti-inflammatory diet supporting your body’s ability to heal, isn’t a bad idea!
Foods are always the preferred choice over supplements.
The Mediterranean diet is definitely one of the best and healthiest diet in the world – more on that on a future blog post.
Some spices are also interesting to add to your diet, like turmeric for instance, known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
About Leslie Abraham
She is the founder and owner of Bonjour Baby, and the creator of the prenatal and postpartum Bonjour Baby online courses. Leslie is a prenatal and pediatrics Osteopath DO (France), certified pre and postnatal personal trainer and women health coach. She has devoted more than 10 years of her career to help woman be ready for birth and recover from it in the following months and years.
There you have it! 10 exercises to help you relieve postpartum back pain. These exercises are efficient only if you stick to them. Make it a routine! Aim for doing some or all of them at least twice a week.
If you need more help and assistance to start your pregnancy support journey or your postpartum recovery, you can always reach out to me to schedule a free consultation. Always a pleasure to help and support Mamas during their journey!
Disclaimer: Bonjour Baby strongly recommends that you consult with your physician before beginning and enrolling in any exercise program, even if you are in good physical condition, not suffering from any complications, and able to participate in the exercise.
Bonjour Baby is not a licensed medical care provider and represents that it has no expertise in diagnosing, examining, or treating medical conditions of any kind or in determining the effect of any specific exercise on a medical condition.
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