Exercises to help with back pain

If you have a spinal fracture, doing some gentle exercise can help improve the pain.

The pain associated with osteoporosis occurs because of fractures (broken bones). When they happen in the spine they are called spinal fractures. You may hear these fractures described as compression or vertebral fractures.

Although spinal fractures can be painless, for some people they cause severe pain when they first happen. The pain usually gets better as the fracture heals over 6 to 12 weeks. These exercises may help improve muscle tone, ease tension and reduce muscle spasms in your back.

These exercises may help if:

• you have pain as a result of recent spinal fractures

• you have ongoing pain due to height loss and changes to the shape of your spine.

There are different exercises you can do to help relieve pain after spinal fractures. They help to improve muscle tone, ease tension and reduce muscle spasms. The exercises are:

• shoulder squeeze

• cat.

We show you how to do these exercises in our 'Exercises for back pain after spinal fractures' video.

If you have painful spinal fractures or find it hard to move around, ask your doctor to refer you to a physiotherapist.

Before you start, read our information about how to exercise safely for bones. On this page, we answer some common questions to help you stay safe when you are active.

It is important to listen to your body and feel safe, confident and comfortable when you are active for your bones.

What you will need

An exercise mat and an armless chair.

If you want to add some padding under your knees or head for comfort, you will need something soft like a cushion or pillow too.

Try to do these exercises at least once a day.

Move slowly into the positions, as far as your pain allows, using the correct technique. Hold each exercise for three to five seconds and don't forget to breathe!

Relax between each move and take your time. If pain is very severe you may need to alternate gentle movement with rest periods at first.

These exercises may help to relieve pain any time after fractures happen, so start to introduce them as soon as you feel ready. You don't need to wait until your bones are fully healed. But, if you are finding the exercises difficult, ask your doctor to refer you to a physiotherapist for advice.