[Lagavulin]

Quote:

One of the main ones is that your lower back doesn't have ribs connected to them and when you roll over the lower back, you put your entire bodyweight over the vertebrea and they will be moved anteriorly in a direction they were not meant to really go.
If someone has a history of lower back pain (especially due to a herniated disk), this can be extremely bad and cause a flare up, especially if one is overweight. (OTOH, some people will say they roll over their lower back all the time, but ask any physical therapist and they will tell you to not do it as well.)
Alternatives for your lower back pain:
Relax in a child's pose position,
Do some cat/cow movements and..
Stretch your hip flexors in a lunge because the HF's connect to the lower back and are often THE culprit for lower back pain due to their tightness.
Rolling over the GLUTES with a ball also provides excellent lower back pain relief as well

There's some good advice in this post - however you can foam roll your lower back, just not in the fashion most people do. I see people in the gym rolling up and down their spine, which is potentially bad for you.

If rolling up and down you should never go lower than the lowest rib, however the proper way to do it is to lie on the foam roller and roll your body side to side, the roller doesn't actually move, your body should move left to right across the roller.

You should be rolling over your spinal erectors one at a time, when you've done your lower back (3 minutes done slowly is enough), you should reposition your body on the roller so that you roll your mid back, where you'll hit the spinal erectors and also catch both your lats in one roll, 3 minutes is enough again, when done reposition your body again to hit your upper back.

Some people need head support for this, in which case you can use a power bag, place it under your head and off you go.

You can also use a swiss ball for the stretch below, I do it often.

One last point is that for people with lower back problems hanging off a pull up bar is often not a good idea. It's a good stretch for a healthy back but can otherwise be too much, sometimes causing pain and momentary instability in a weak lower back.

(04-01-2017 08:38 PM)monster Wrote:  

These yoga wheels are pretty damn good for stretching your back when sitting. I love it