Lower Back Pain Relief: Causes, Best Treatments & Quick Recovery Tips

Anne-martine Dicke
Mar 4
5 min read

Updated: Apr 3

shows a professional using acupuncture as a treatment

Lower back pain is one of those things that sneaks up on you. One day, you’re feeling fine, and the next—your back locks up, and even putting on your socks feels like a challenge. If you’ve been dealing with that frustrating cycle of stiffness, tightness, and random flare-ups, you're not alone.

Causes of Lower Back Pain

Most people think their back pain is caused by one specific thing—like a “bad mattress” or “sitting too much.” And while those things can play a role, the real issue is usually deeper than that. There are usually a variety of factors at play that need re-adjusting, mentally and physically.

Weakness, poor movement habits, and lack of mobility create a chain reaction that forces your lower back to compensate.

Until you fix what’s causing the pain, it will keep coming back.

Key Factors of Lower Back Pain:

Now I would hate to say it's all about glutes, but your lower back needs a strong foundation to help it function properly. Moreover, we need to be moving and allow within that movement for the structure to create space to move. Switching the muscles on when we need them, and off, to allow them to rest and recover.

🔥 Tight Hip Flexors & Weak Glutes – Sitting too much tightens your hip flexors, which pulls on your lower back. Glutes are the foundation to your lower back: as is generally your hip mobility. Both need to be strong and capable of engaging and moving well to keep the spine in top top condition. Also to offset our posture and with improper movement at times (as most of us are not ballet dancers) we need to consciously think about what we are expecting our bodies to do with our own help and efforts to take care of it.

🔄 Core Stability – Your core is meant to protect your spine. But if it’s weak, your lower back takes over… and it’s not built for that job. Your spine is like the Eiffel Tower with all those structures cleverly balanced together through bones, tissue and discs. But you need to work at keeping those structures healthy, balanced and strong for them to work together efficiently and for longevity. Even standing in a slightly forward bent posture over time, leads to the lower back muscles getting fatigued, which causes pain.

If you can sufficiently move but your back hurts by bending forwards for example try to lie on your back on a pilates ball to extend the spine by creating space as shown by the lady in image above . Remember to breathe and relax as much as possible.

But that's not all..through experience of treating a lot of people with various & acute back injuries & issues, it's not one size fits all. In fact quite the opposite; I have found that even the fittest of people have struggled with their back. The key? 🔑 Is to find the weakest link. Where are the muscles not engaging where they should ? where are the muscles taking over and dominating weaker muscle groups?(because proper function needs the body to work as a team- not as one side dominating the other so that one side goes on holiday!)

This takes a bit of detective work but thats the exciting part!

(probably more for me than it is for you) But this will be the game changer- where you finally take control and retrain your body to work together and finally understand what the causes are to your lower back issue.

Other factors can include:

🛌 Poor Sleeping Positions – Sleeping in a twisted position or on a soft mattress forces your lower back into weird angles all night. (Use a support pillow between your knees)

⚡ Sudden Overuse– If you go from sitting all week to lifting heavy things, playing sports, or doing intense workouts, your back isn’t ready for it.

Best treatments you can do at home?

Lower back pain is not just about “rest” or "taking painkillers." You need to actively reset, strengthen, and move better so your back doesn't take the hit, which is about retraining your movement and your brain. So you dont keep going back to the same bad habits.

Quick Relief Techniques:

✔️ Loosen Up the Tight Areas : Mobilise – Stretch your hip flexors, hamstrings, and lower back daily.

✔️ Strengthen Your Core & Glutes – Focus on planks, glute bridges, and deep core activation (not just crunches).

✔️ Move Better in Everyday Life – Stop bending at your lower back—hinge from your hips instead to protect your spine and keep your lower spine flat.

✔️ Fix Your Sleeping Position – Try a firmer mattress, sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees, or adjust your pillow height.

✔️ Use Heat & Mobility Exercises – If your back feels stiff, warming it up before movement can make a huge difference.

When to see a Professional:

Your lower back pain is getting worse

You have trouble doing simple things, like putting your socks on.

You have tingling or gnawing pain going down your leg

You have trouble walking any distance

You are leaning off to the side like the tower of Pisa

You feel stuck in one position

You are anxious and not sure what you should be doing.

Best Treatment for Lower Back Pain:

Acupuncture is NO.1; reduces inflammation, helps with pain, increases blood flow,

stimulates the body's immune response, sending cortisone to the area. Very importantly, gives your brain a different avenue of healing, away from the pain circuit it has created, which is done by neurotransmitters.

Manual Therapy; hands on therapy to help the tissues relax, to allow the structure of your lower back to move. Also helps switch from the fight or flight to relaxation & recovery. Together makes for a thorough and succesfull recovery.

Movement exercises: mobilisation exercises that allow the lower back to regain movement. So that you know how to help the progress of your recovery at home. Reverse engineering what causes discomfort and literally doing the opposite. So if flexion or bending forwards is painful, lie on your back as relaxed as possible on a pilates ball see: Recommended Products.

See image above.

If you want a Step-by-Step Plan that you can do at home:

Below is a straight-to-the-point guide on alleviating lower back pain.

I’ve put everything you need into my Ultimate Lower Back Pain Care Guide. This guide will help you undersand what you need to do.

💡 Inside, you’ll get:

✅ The daily routine to reset your back

✅ The 3 most effective exercises to strengthen your core & glutes

✅ Easy pain relief techniques you can do anytime

✅ A long-term plan so the pain stops coming back

Click the link below for your helpful guide!

If you need any further assistance with pain or discomfort,

then please do get in touch or book online so we can tailor a treatment