Focus area
Lower Back
The deep muscles that keep your torso upright along your lower spine. Long hours of sitting, lifting with a rounded back, or a hard core session leave them sore — a pulling feeling when you straighten up, and stiffness that builds the longer you sit.
Cat-Cow
Child's Pose
Single Knee-to-Chest
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More stretches for this area
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Why this area gets sore
A few muscles in this area are especially prone to tightening up and aching. Match your symptoms below to figure out which one is talking to you.
Erector spinae
Two muscular "beams" running up both sides of your spine. Slouched sitting and lifting with a rounded back leave the lower back stiff and sore on both sides — you straighten up slowly and carefully.
Quadratus lumborum
A deep, square muscle on each side of the lumbar spine that side-bends and stabilizes the lower back. Slouched sitting or one-sided loading leaves a deep ache on both sides of the waist and a pull when you bend sideways.
See a doctor if any of these apply
Stretching helps everyday muscle soreness. If any of the following sounds like you, it may be more than tired muscles — donât push through:
- Pain radiating from your arm or leg down into your fingers or toes, or with numbness and weakness
- The soreness started after a fall, impact or other injury, or the area is visibly swollen
- It hasnât improved after a week, or it wakes you up at night
- It comes with fever, chest tightness, dizziness, or loss of bladder or bowel control
- The pain is severe enough to stop normal movement, or you canât bear any force on it