How to ease a stiff back with 5 movements, according to a physiotherapist

Modern sedentary living often shows up as a stiff back, pain and even breathlessness. Dinah Hampson, Canadian physiotherapist and founder of Pivot Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Clinic, has joined the ABA (American Barre Academy) to bring science-backed exercises and training from a professional physiotherapy perspective.

These five back release exercises were jointly developed by Dinah and ABA founder Lucie Wang and demonstrated by ABA co-founder and professional ballet dancer Calley Skalnik. They’re designed to help you ease back pain, let your back truly release and bring your body back to feeling light and comfortable.

For each movement, practice two sets of 8 to 10 repetitions per side each day. When you sync your breath with the exercises, you’ll notice the tension in your lower back gradually softening and your posture becoming more centred.

Movement 1: Dragon’s Lateral Extension

• Place one leg slightly behind and across the other, like a small diagonal step back.
• Lean your upper body forward until it’s almost parallel to the floor, keeping your back straight.
• Come back up to an upright position.
• From standing, bend your torso to one side, then to the other, like a gentle side stretch.
• Do the same sequence with the other leg stepping back.

This simple stretch activates the abdominal obliques, glutes, quadriceps and latissimus dorsi (lower back muscles.) It also pulls and restores elasticity in the thoracolumbar fascia (lower back tissue) and helps ease tightness in the lower back.

Dinah says this exercise releases tension at the base of the posterior muscles, maintains the elasticity of the thoracolumbar fascia and significantly eases overall tightness and pulling pain in the lower back.

Movement 2: Feather Return

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Turn to one side and do a light diagonal stretch in that direction.
• Bend your knees into a small squat and lean your upper body forward.
• Turn to the opposite side.
• Interlock your hands, stretch both arms out in front of you and lift the foot on the same side while the leg extends out.

By improving knee and hip discomfort linked to tight lateral hips, this movement activates the lower trapezius and lumbar muscles and helps rebuild a stronger posture line. With continued practice, it breaks up deep hip tension.