Stretches and recovery exercise

# Child’s pose for back pain

A resting stretch where you sit back toward your heels with your arms stretched out in front. It eases the low back and hips at the end of a session.

Also called: child pose stretch, balasana

- **Type:** Stretches and recovery

- **Equipment:** No equipment

- **Area:** Lower back

- **Level:** Gentle

- **Starting dose in Remedy:** 2 holds of 40 seconds

## How to do it

- Kneel with your big toes together and your knees apart.
- Sit your hips back toward your heels.
- Walk your hands forward and rest your forehead on the floor or a cushion.
- Breathe slowly into your back and sides and hold.

## Form cues

- Sit back toward your heels, arms long, forehead down.
- Breathe into the stretch.

## Common mistakes

- Forcing the hips down to the heels. Go as far as is comfortable.

## Easier and harder versions

- **To make it easier:** Put a pillow between your heels and hips, or under your chest, if you cannot sit all the way back.

## Why it helps a sore back

It is an easy, supported position to finish a session in, and a common way to wind down the low back after strength work.

## How Remedy uses it

In the app it is called **Child’s Pose Hold**. Remedy is more likely to pick it if you say your back is bothered by mornings or after rest. A typical starting dose is 2 holds of 40 seconds, and the program adjusts reps as the weeks go on. Every exercise in the app has a demonstration video.

General fitness information, not medical advice. Stop any exercise that causes sharp pain, or pain, numbness, or tingling spreading down a leg.

## More stretches and recovery exercises

[Stretches and recovery

### Figure-4 stretch

A stretch for the glutes and the piriformis, done lying on your back with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee.
No equipment · Gentle](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/figure-4-stretch)
[Stretches and recovery

### Lying hamstring stretch

A hamstring stretch done lying on your back, holding behind your thigh and straightening the knee.
No equipment · Gentle](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/hamstring-stretch)

## Guides that use it
[Guide
### Lower back pain exercises
The kinds of exercise that help a sore lower back, with a simple routine to start.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/lower-back-pain-exercises)[Guide
### Stretches for lower back pain
Gentle stretches that ease a stiff lower back, and why stretching alone is not enough.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/stretches-for-lower-back-pain)[Guide
### Lower back stiff in the morning
Why mornings feel worst, what usually helps, and when stiffness needs a doctor.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/morning-back-stiffness)

[More exercise guides](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/)

## Get a back program you can actually keep

Free to download on the App Store. Answer a few questions and your first session is ready in minutes.

[](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remedy-back-pain-relief/id6813745106)[Read the guides](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/)

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Source: https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/childs-pose
Remedy is a fitness and wellness app, not medical care.