How To Stand To Avoid Lower Back Pain and Sciatica

Why You Can't Stand Due To Lower Back Pain

Before we jump into the exercise, it helps to understand what causes back pain or sciatica when you're standing in the first place.

As you age, your discs naturally start to lose some water content, and your vertebrae start to get closer together.

If you stand with a lot of arch in your back, this can further narrow the spaces between your vertebrae.  That in turn causes the facet joints in your lower back to jam together, thus causing back pain.

Additionally, it can start to pinch the nerves that come out of your lower back and go down your leg.  This in turn can cause leg pain or sciatica.

How to Stand to Avoid Lower Back Pain

One of the best and easiest ways to open up those spaces in your lower back is to stand with less arch in your back.

If you have tight hip flexors, that can also pull you into that forward pelvic tilt and excessive arch in your lower back.

The Horse Stance Exercise Can Help You Avoid Lower Back Pain

One great exercise to undo that is a version of the horse stance. The horse stance is a fundamental stance used in martial arts.  It varies in depth from very shallow to deeper versions where you're in a fairly deep squat.

For the purpose of standing, just doing a very shallow horse stance where you're shifting your weight forwards, tucking your pelvis underneath, and flattening out your lower back can be extremely helpful.

Step-by-Step Guide to the Horse Stance

Doing the horse stance properly starts down at your feet. Spread your feet a little bit wider than shoulder-width apart. They should be pointed either straight ahead or slightly outwards.

Next, shift your knees forward over your feet, but you want to keep your heels grounded. You don't want to come up off the floor.

You're not doing a squat; you're actually shifting your entire pelvis forward by squeezing through your glutes. Don't allow your lower back to arch while doing this.

This isn't going to be an incredibly deep horse stance. You want to be in just a little shallow tuck to flatten out your lower back.

There's shouldn't be a lot of stress on your thighs or knees because your glutes, abdominals, and to some extent your calves are doing most of the work.

This often immediately relieves pain if you've been standing for a long period of time and start to notice some back pain or sciatica.

How To Avoid Back Pain and Sciatica When Standing In Public

If you're standing out in a public place, doing this exercise actually doesn't look all that unusual. Most people probably aren't going to pay attention anyways.

However, if you do want to stand a little bit more upright, stand in a horse stance position long enough to relieve your pain.

Then activate your glutes, keep your abdominals tight, and straighten your knees. This allows you to come back up to standing without going right back into a back arch position.

Conclusion

So that's how to stand to avoid back pain or sciatica when standing for long periods of time.

If you need more help for back pain or sciatica and live in the St. Louis area, we'd be happy to help you.

Just tap the button below to request an appointment with one of our specialist physical therapists.

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