You ever stand up after sitting for a while and feel like your back needs a minute to catch up? 😂
Our low back works with our hips, pelvis, and core to help us bend, stand, and move around. Sitting for long periods can leave us feeling a little off, especially if we’ve been sitting for 8+ hours.
Before we start stretching our back, let’s give our hips some attention, get our glutes to fire, and practice moving around again.
Here are 3 exercises I would try for a stiff low back after sitting:
10 reps per side
When we’ve been sitting for a while, this is one area we’d want to check in with first!
Sitting for hours basically clinches our hip muscles, and one muscle that gets the brunt of the clinching is our hip flexor muscles.
This stretch gives us a chance to move the front of my hip through a comfortable range before moving on to the next exercise.
Try this:
Keep the movement small and controlled. You don’t need to arch your back to get a stretch.
10 reps
When we sit down, our glutes muscles aren’t engage as much. Our lower back, core and hip flexors can end up doing most of the work. So when we spend most of day sitting our glutes can start to act like they don’t have to do anything anymore. So, in this next step we are going to remind the glutes of their role in helping us move.
Our glutes help extend our hips, which comes in handy when we stand up, walk, and move around.
Try this:
Think gentle control, not squeezing as hard as humanly possible. Your hips and pelvis should move without forcing anything.
10 reps
Now that I’ve given our hips some movement and practiced engaging our glutes, we can put those pieces together.
Our hips and glutes work together to help us move our body. The hip hinge gives us a chance to practice using them together to bend and stand back up.
Try this:
You don’t have to bend super far. I’m looking for a comfortable, controlled movement—not trying to touch our toes.
If my low back felt stiff after sitting, I’d try:
RELAX → STRENGTHEN → MOVE
I’d try this after sitting for a while, or even better, before I get to the point where I’m feeling stiff.
You can also get up and move around throughout the day. You don’t have to wait until your back starts complaining to give your body a little movement.
Let me know in the comment section!
Movement doesn’t have to be complicated to be useful.
Take your time. Breathe. Don’t force the movement.
Consistency beats doing a ton once and never doing it again.
This isn’t a quick fix. If you’ve been feeling stiff for a while, give yourself time to build a consistent movement routine and pay attention to how your body responds.
Low back stiffness can have many different causes.
If your pain is severe, persistent, getting worse, follows an injury, or comes with other concerning symptoms, it’s worth getting evaluated by a medical professional rather than trying to work your way through it.
