Ice, heat, NSAIDs and activity as tolerated are the best treatments to stop acute lower back spasms.
There are sometimes some specific exercises that can also be helpful that i’ll share later.
If you’re wondering why your lower back is hurting with bending forward, read this article linked in this sentence.
How To Stop Lower Back Spasms
I’ve broken this down into the acute stages and sub-acute to chronic stages for different readers.
Acute Stage (0-7 days)
The acute stage is more about symptom management and letting things calm down from their worst.
Ice and heat
These are symptom modifiers. You can apply these for 20 minutes at a time, alternating if you wish, and you can do this several times a day.
Here’s another article about ice vs. heat that you might find helpful.
NSAIDs
The medications can help to reduce inflammation and pain in the initial stages of pain.
Muscle Relaxers
These need to be prescribed by your physician to get these but they can sometimes be helpful. There is some research to support that they may reduce symptoms in the short term.
Specific Exercise
I would try these specific movements in the first couple of days for 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps to see how they feel. If they feel good, you’re free to do them throughout the day. The benefit behind these is just to get you moving a little more, get the blood flow up, and keep your mobility and fitness levels as much as possible.
Childs pose
Prone press-up
Thread the needle
General movement
Walking
Walking is a great way to stay moving with lower back spasms assuming that it’s not too painful. Most people that i’ve worked with are able to walk at least shorter distances and then resting.
Bed rest is not recommended as usually people end up getting more stiff.
It’s fine to take it easy for a couple days, but focusing on movement is an important aspect to improving your condition.
Sub-acute and Chronic Stage (1 week to 3+ months)
At this stage, if you’re still experiencing spasms, continuing to stay active and try different activities to see which one feels best is the most important part. If you’re having recurrent low back spasms, I recommend working on getting back to the ability to perform the below movements.
Exercises to Help With Lower Back Spasms
As I shared above, childs pose, prone press up, and thread the needle are great ones to try.
Here are a couple more I would try once your symptoms have come down a bit.
These ones are focused on helping you reduce the recurrence of this.
Try these ones out and start with 2-3x/week doing them for 2-3 sets of 10 reps. You can always increase weight, sets or reps depending on how you’re feeling.
Bent over rows
Goodmornings
Supermans
Romanian deadlift
If you just so happen to be a golfer I made a similar article covering some additional exercises for LBP, too.
Key Takeaways
In the acute period of low back spasms, it’s important to work to modify symptoms. This can be done through ice, heat, NSAIDs, and movements that do not significantly irritate it.
It’s important to stay moving after the first couple of days. Bed rest is not recommended.
If your low back spasms have become recurrent as in they keep getting better and then coming back, it’s important to work with a physical therapist to help you get to the root cause of this and likely to implement the above exercises to help reduce the risk.
