When your back flares up
Emergency treatment for a bad day.
A short home routine from Dr. Sean Wheeler at Body Guitar Clinic: stretch the hip flexors, release the gluteus muscles and the psoas, then calm everything down.
A home routine for back flare-ups from Body Guitar Clinic. It supports, and does not replace, your own healthcare professional.
Video · About 3 minutes
Watch: Emergency treatment for a flare-up
A hip flexor stretch, a gluteus ball release and a psoas release, then slow breathing and an easy walk. Captions are available in the player.
Why a flare-up can happen
Some days your back will flare up. At Body Guitar Clinic, Dr. Sean Wheeler sees this most often in people who are on the road to recovery and just overdid it: a new gluteus muscle routine, physical therapy exercises, or more walking. Sometimes it means your original pain is back. But sometimes it just means your muscles are out of balance for a day or two.
Dr. Wheeler’s theory, part of the thinking behind the Wheeler Walking Protocol, is that tired gluteus muscles and hip flexors can spasm when you start asking them to do more, and that this can be a sign you are moving in a positive direction. It is a theory, not a proven result. Either way, the plan is the same: treat the spasm so a bad day does not turn into a bad week.
The steps, in the order of the video
- Hip flexor stretch. Lie on your back with your feet on the ground and a foam roller or a balled-up pillow under your low back. Rest your arms out over your shoulders with your palms up, and drape back over it. This stretches the upper hip flexors, where the psoas and the quadratus lumborum attach to the diaphragm. You can do this on the floor. On a bed or a table with your feet down, you get a bigger stretch. Breathe slowly and stay as long as it feels good.
- Gluteus ball release. Use a lacrosse ball, but almost any ball will work. Lie on the ball, or stand and pin it between your buttock and a wall. Roll the ball on the gluteus muscles until you find an area of pain. Increase the pressure, stay there until the muscle releases, and then move to find a new area.
- Psoas release. Work from the middle of the muscle down. Use a Thera Cane or anything like it, even a golf club, and gently pull so it presses straight down. Or lie on a lacrosse ball with a dumbbell resting on top. Pushing on the psoas does not release it, and this is not massage. The pressure lets your brain know the psoas is tight. Then breathe slow and easy, let your diaphragm expand, and it relaxes.
- Calm everything down. Breathe slowly and let your diaphragm expand, then go for an easy, relaxed walk.
When to call your healthcare professional
If a few days of treatment are not helping, contact your healthcare professional, as the chronic pain could be back. If the pain is severe, you may do that as the first step. These steps are a supplement to advice from a qualified professional, not a substitute. This page is not emergency care. In an emergency, call 911.
Dr. Wheeler’s full write-up is on the Body Guitar Clinic Emergency Treatment page.
Related pages
- Walking — clinic follow-through
- Posture — how you hold still
- Calm — turning the stress response down
- What now? — the plan after scores
- Contact — ask about a flare-up
Not sure yet? Call (913) 291-2819 or contact us.
Start with a useful first step.
Dr. Sean Wheeler at Body Guitar Clinic in Overland Park can help you tell a bad day from a return of your original pain.