Lower back · Standing
Standing back extension
A small, slow lean back with your hands on your lower back or hips. A movement for when you first stand up from sitting.
- 5 slow repeats
- Movement
How to do it
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and place your hands on your lower back or hips.
- Gently lean back a small amount, keeping your knees soft and looking forward rather than up.
- Pause for a second, then return to upright.
- Repeat slowly.
How long
Five slow repeats, about 30 seconds.
What you should feel
A mild stretch across the front of the body and gentle pressure in the lower back. A small movement is enough.
Stop if…
- Pain, numbness, tingling or pins and needles, or dizziness: stop and do not push through it.
- Leaning back causes or increases back pain, or pain spreads into a leg.
Variations
- Smaller. Just lift the chest and draw the shoulders back without leaning.
- Seated instead. Try the seated cat-cow if standing is not practical.
Common mistakes
- Leaning back far, like a backbend.
- Tipping the head back.
- Locking the knees.
Use it in a routine
The stretch routine builder can play this with other lower back stretches, with a countdown for each side and a chime at every change. The stretch break timer adds stretches like it to a break after each work interval.
It is part of this ready-made routine: Standing break, 5 minutes.
Sources
Written from published guidance by health services, physiotherapy and ergonomics bodies. Last reviewed .
- Office ergonomics best practices (PDF), Northwest Missouri State University EHS
- Standing stretches for the workplace (video), Mayo Clinic (general stretching guidance)
- Desk-based exercises, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (UK) (general stretching guidance)
- Stretching at the workstation (PDF), New Mexico State University Environmental Health and Safety (general stretching guidance)