Female lower back pain is often caused from the huge changes your body goes through during pregnancy and postpartum. To get immediate relief from your lower back pain, these quick and easy stretches are a must do.

In order for you to alleviate your lower back pain, you need to do both strength and stretch based exercises to ensure your muscles are strong and functional as well as free from stress and tension.

There can be many different causes of back pain in females lower back pain after pregnancy but what I can tell you is that around 75% of women experience some form of back pain after delivering their baby. 

Your muscles and joints go through enormous changes throughout pregnancy and that doesn’t change once you’ve given birth. It takes time and specialised exercises to ensure you are providing your body with what it requires.

You experience large increases in hormones such as relaxin, estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy which causes your joints to be significantly more supple. This is why it is important to not overstretch during pregnancy. 

Many women can also get a combination of lower back and hip pain or lower back and pelvic pain. As well as your hips and uterus expanding during pregnancy, a common issue is abdominal separation and weakness.

Pregnancy changes your posture and reduces your muscle strength, in particular through your core and this puts significant strain on your back. 

Furthermore, poor posture is common with postpartum mamas due to tasks such as breastfeeding and leaning over to tend to your baby. This results in rounded shoulders, which puts a strain on your back. 

Coming from a yoga background, all my classes have an emphasis on posture, so while the exercises predominantly focus on your pelvic floor and core, posture comes into play always. 

EVERYDAY POSTURE TIPS FOR POSTPARTUM MAMAS

• Awareness is key. Notice your posture when standing and sitting and doing everyday tasks. When you recognise poor posture, correct it. It will eventually become habitual and much easier as you build the strength required to have good posture. 
• When lifting heavy objects (including children), be sure to bend from your knees, lift the object as you straighten your legs. This sounds simple but it is key to preventing lower back pain.

In my postpartum recovery program I include a Pelvic Mama Diary, where you make a quick note of your posture daily. This is a huge help in you becoming aware of your posture and how it changes throughout the program. 

THE BEST EXERCISES FOR FEMALE LOWER BACK PAIN AFTER PREGNANCY 

You really want to ease your way back into movement and be extremely intentional about what you are doing and how you are doing it, especially when you are experiencing back pain. I’ve found that gentle stretching has wonderful benefits and significantly reduces lower back pain after pregnancy in my clients. Combine that stretching with some beginner strength based exercises to build strength and stability through your muscles and joints and you’ll see a big improvement. 

As I mentioned earlier, weak core muscles, along with abdominal separation or diastasis recti are in many cases the reason for back pain in postpartum mamas. It is so important to focus on repairing your muscles in order to improve both function and physical appearance. Having a strong core helps to improve back pain significantly. Try this class for some great exercises to strengthen and repair your core muscles.

In this class we focus on 8 amazing exercises that will reduce women’s lower back pain in particular. These exercises are low impact, strengthen your core and release tension. 

Let me know in the comments down below which exercise you liked the best! My favourite is the twist at the end. Such a good stretch.