I get asked often, is there one stretch that you must do for back pain?

Although I tell my patients that it is best to stretch all the muscles that are causing your back pain, there is one muscle you should always stretch. Why?

It is a muscle that is the most commonly tight, it is the main muscle that keeps the curve in your lower back – if tight this curve increases which places a lot of strain on your lower back. It is also a muscle you use all the time when you bend and lift.

And if you are into doing exercises in the gym or exercise to help your back pain, it is a common muscle that is aggravated. When you do those endless sit-ups, most times if you are doing them incorrectly (which most people do without knowing it), then this muscle is targeted and hence increases in tension you don’t need.

The muscle I’m talking about is your Ilio-Psoas muscle – otherwise known as your Hip Flexors.

This muscle attaches into the front of your spine and then runs down and attaches into the top of your femur (thigh bone). It helps to raise your leg and also helps you to bend backwards. So when you lift this is one of the main muscles you use.

Taking tension out of this muscle will help back pain immensely. The common Hip Flexor stretch is where you kneel on the ground with your front foot on the ground with your knee bent at a 90 degree angle. Your trailing leg is bent with your knee on the ground. You then move forward to stretch the rare/trailing legs Hip Flexor.

Simple enough…

Yet you see these stretches all over the place, and still there are countless people just like you still suffering from back pain. Why?

Knowing what to stretch only accounts for 1/3 of your stretching routine. More important than knowing what to stretch you need to know how to stretch and when to stretch.

Knowing how to stretch means you stretch effectively – in fact it takes less than 20 seconds to stretch properly – if you know how.

Knowing when to stretch is essential though – if you stretch at certain times then the flexibility you are trying to achieve will happen in days – not months.

Your Hip Flexors are the most important muscle to stretch for back pain. However knowing this is not the big cure all for your back pain. You still need to know how and when to stretch, you need to know how to strengthen muscles effectively (without going to a gym), you must know how to get your joints moving freely and to balance your pelvis – otherwise you miss the most important factors causing your back pain.

Stretching can be easy and simple; removing all the factors causing your back pain can be just as easy. The X-Pain Method was written for you – to teach you simple, effective and quick ways to remove and to prevent your back pain. Back pain does not need to rule your life – all you need to know is what to do to remove your back pain … completely and permanently.