If you suffer from lower back pain, the thought of doing any type of strenuous exercise can seem daunting, mostly out of fear of injuring yourself. You're not alone as a good majority of people (especially those who work at a desk 8-10 hours per day) are right there with you. So, what can you do? Here are three relatively easy, low-impact, high-return exercises you can do to strengthen your lower back.

If you feel pain doing the exercises below, shorten the range of motion or perform the moves more slowly.

Child’s Pose
Gently relieves tension in the lower back. When your pain is acute, use these easy moves to gently mobilize — increase the pain-free range of motion — in your back.

To Do This Exercise:
1. On a mat or blanket, kneel down, and if possible, sit on your heels.
2. Lean forward, extending your arms in front of you, and rest your head on the floor in front of you.
3. Hold the position for 30 seconds to two minutes.

If It Hurts:
Cross your arms on the floor and rest on your forearms.

Clam
Supports healthy hip movement, which takes pressure off the lower back during everyday activities.

To Do This Exercise:
1. Lie on your left side with your knees bent 90 degrees in front of you and your feet stacked.
2. Keeping your feet together and your hips vertical, lift your right knee as far away from your left as possible.
3. Hold for a moment, return to the starting position, and repeat for 15 reps.
4. Turn onto your right side and perform 15 reps.

If It Hurts:
Make sure your lower back doesn’t twist throughout the movement and limit the move to a pain-free range of motion.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
Restores proper positioning of the hips, taking tension off the lower back.

To Do This Exercise:
1. Kneel on a mat or pad and step your right foot flat on the floor in front of you.
2. Keeping your torso upright and your back in its natural arch, lunge forward towards your right foot.
3. Press the top of your left foot into the floor behind you.
4. Hold the stretched position for 30–45 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.

If It Hurts:
Contract your abs and flatten the lower back as much as possible throughout the stretch. Also, try shifting your hips back and coming out of the stretch a bit.

Before we begin talking about exercises for your back, let's take a moment to remember what our spine and back muscles do. After all, they have an important job:  supporting the rest of our body weight.

Our spines have more than 30 small bones (vertebrae) that are stacked together and separated with spongy cartilage that absorbs the pressure from our bodies movements day in and day out. Also, we have a series of muscles in our backs that enable us to stand upright and support the skeletal system so that we can move around. We need both to be in top condition to be who we are as active human beings. 

With this in mind, here are a few exercises you can do to strengthen your back and help prevent future injuries.