Back in 2011, my body was constantly in pain. Nine years at a computer with terrible posture had left me hurting in places I didn’t know could hurt. One of the things that helped me turn it around was finally paying attention to my core.
Core muscles exercises aren’t just about building muscle and changing how you look in the mirror. They can help support better movement, stability, and posture, which in turn supports the spine during everyday activities.
Improving core strength may help people move more comfortably and confidently during daily activities. That was true for me. But I want to be honest with you right away. Choosing the right exercises depends on each person’s body, fitness level, and the cause of their back pain. We’re all built a little differently, and we’re all experiencing back pain for different reasons. Let’s talk about why building your core matters before we get into the specific moves that helped me the most.
7 Core Muscles Exercises For Back Pain
A lot of the time, when people think of the core, they assume it’s just the abdominal muscles on the front of our stomach. In reality, it’s much bigger than that. Your core wraps all the way around you, front to back, including the muscles that hug your lumbar spine ( the lower part of your back).
When those muscles are working properly, they take pressure off your spine. They help you sit upright without slumping and keep you balanced when you stand, twist, bend, and reach for your coffee for the hundredth time today.
Strengthening your core may be beneficial for people experiencing back pain because a strong core supports all the small movements you do throughout the day. Think of it like scaffolding around a building. When the scaffolding is solid, the structure holds up properly without collapsing. When it’s weak, everything leans on the spine alone.
For us full-time computer users, that matters a lot because we spend hours in one position. A stronger core gives your back a team to share the work with, instead of making your spine carry the whole shift by itself.
Can Weak Core Muscle Cause Back Pain?
Weak core muscles can absolutely play a part in back pain. When your abdominal muscles and the deeper core muscles aren’t pulling their weight, your lumbar spine ends up doing more and taking on more than it should. For me, that meant dealing with back pain that only seemed to get worse over time.
But it’s important to understand that plenty of different things can cause back pain. While I was experiencing it due to weak core muscles, that may not be your experience. Posture, old injuries, how you sit, how you sleep, stress, and plenty of other things can all play a role.
I’m not a doctor, and I’d never try to diagnose you from a blog post. If your pain is sharp, ongoing, or feels too hard to handle on your own, there’s no shame in reaching out to your healthcare provider.
How to Strengthen Core Muscles for Back Pain
When you’re working to strengthen your core muscles, you don’t need a gym or anything fancy. In my personal experience, I was able to safely improve my own core strength by following a few specific habits, including:
- Be consistent. Doing even a little bit most days beats a brutal session once a week. Consistency is what helps you build your core strength slowly over time, which is often also the safest.
- Breathe properly. Don’t hold your breath throughout the more intense parts of the exercise. Take a deep breath, then exhale as you work. Your breath actually helps engage your core.
- Move with control. When you’re strengthening your core, focus on the quality of movement rather than rushing through exercises. It’s better to do fewer reps right than do more incorrectly.
Most importantly, listen to your body. The goal is to feel better, not to grind yourself down. If a move doesn’t feel right, scale it back or skip it.
7 Core Muscles Exercises for Back Pain
These are the core exercises I lean on myself and have been using for quite some time now. I’ve kept them simple, because complicated exercises aren’t the goal here. Quality is. For each one, I’ll explain how to perform it and why it may help support your back.
A quick note before you start: Move slowly, take deep breathes, and stop doing an exercise if it causes a sharp pain. We’re building core strength, not pushing through pain.
1. Dead Bug
Lie face up on the floor with your knees bent and your arms straight up toward the ceiling, directly over your shoulders. Take a deep breath, then engage your core and press your lower back gently into the floor.
Slowly lower your right arm over your head as you straighten and lower your left leg toward the ground. Make sure to keep your lower back pressed down the whole time. Return to the starting position, then switch sides and do the same thing.
Why It Helps: The dead bug teaches your core to stay stable while your arms and legs move, which is something your body is already doing all day long. It also keeps the lumbar spine protected.
2. Bird Dog
Start on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and your knees bent at 90 degrees under your hips. Engage your core so your back stays flat, like a tabletop.
Reach your right arm forward and your left leg back at the same time, forming a straight line from your fingertips to your heel. Hold for a breath, come back to your starting position, then switch sides.
Why It Helps: Bird dog helps you teach your body balance and control across your whole back and backside. It’s gentle, and it taught me how to keep my spine steady while reaching.
3. Standard Plank
Lie face down, then prop yourself up on your forearms with your elbows under your shoulders. Rise up onto your toes so your body makes one straight line from head to heels. Keep your hips level and don’t let them sag.
Engage your core and hold for 15 to 20 seconds. As you become more comfortable and build your core strength over time, you can hold it for longer.
Why It Helps: A plank works the front and deep core together without requiring you to bend your spine. For those of you who have tried crunches but struggle with them, this is the gentler, less restrictive option. (If you’ve ever asked “Are Sit Ups Bad for Your Lower Back?“, that post is worth a read.)
4. Side Plank
Lie on your side with your legs stacked, resting on your forearm with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder. Lift your hips so your body forms a straight line from head to feet. Your top arm can rest on your hip or point to the ceiling.
Hold the position, remember to keep breathing, then switch to the other side. If you feel like you can’t hold it for long when you first start, this is fine. You’ll likely be able to hold the plank for longer as you build your core muscles.
Why It Helps: The side plank targets the muscles along the sides of your core that help you resist leaning and twisting. If you’re like me, those muscles are the same ones that became weak from years of slouching to one side at a desk.
Quick side note: If you like this article, you’ll love my digital store.
5. Glute Bridge
Lie face up with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, arms extended down by your sides. Take a deep breath, engage your core, and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
Hold for a second at the top, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Make sure you maintain control here, you don’t want to just abruptly drop.
Why It Helps: The glute bridge connects your backside to your core, and strong glutes take a surprising amount of load off the lower back. This exercise made a big difference for me personally.
6. Bird Dog Crunch
This exercise builds on bird dog, the exercise we discussed earlier. Start on all fours, then extend your right arm forward and your left leg back into that straight line. From there, draw your elbow and knee together under your body, then extend them back out.
Keep your core tight the whole time so your back doesn’t dip. Do a set, then switch back and forth each time you come back to the starting position. In other words, it should be your right arm and left leg for one set, then your left arm and right leg for the next. There’s not a specific amount of reps you need to do here; just start slow and add more as you strengthen your core.
Why It Helps: This version of bird dog adds a little challenge while keeping your spine supported.
7. Modified Side Plank
If a full side plank is too much, this is where I started. Lie on your side but keep your bottom knee bent on the floor for support. Prop up on your forearm and lift your hips, forming a straight line from your head to your bent knee. Hold, breathe, then switch sides.
Why It Helps: The modified side plank builds the same side-core strength with less pressure. We all start somewhere, and there’s zero shame in a modification.
Want to move even more gently? Some of the best yoga poses for back pain pair really well with these on your off days.
Before you go further, I pulled my own morning routine and desk resets into my Computer Posture Newsletter. These are the small habits that helped me most, and you can get them delivered to your email weekly.
My Honest Take on Building Core Strength for Your Back
I’ll leave you with the thing I wish someone told me in 2011: building your core strength isn’t about changing how you look physically. It’s about giving your spine the support system it’s been missing while you work. These core exercises helped me move more comfortably through my day. I can’t promise they’ll do the same for you, because every body is different. But they’re a gentle place to start.
If you want to keep going, my free ebook, “3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately!“, walks through the habits and techniques that can pair well with the exercises I discussed above.
Thanks for your interest in computer posture.
Todd Bowen, Certified Posture Specialist (NPI-CPS)
My content is not medical advice. It’s based on my personal experience and opinions.