I used to hammer cardio. I remember going to gym classes and would hear instructors vaguely shout “remember to engage your core” before we squatted, and mostly, no actual instruction would follow.

That was the best of it. The worst of it would be when they told you to suck your tummy in. No, no, no. But at the time, I knew no better.

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It took me to become a PT before I actually knew what it meant. And to be honest, more from the additional learning I did outside of my qualification to really drill it down. Dr Kelly Starrett is the best teacher on this (his book ‘Becoming A Supple Leopard’ gives a beautiful explanation).

The fact that I never knew how to do it properly all those years was probably one reason why my form was consistently shoddy - especially when it came to squats and the like.

“Engage your core.” “Find a neutral spine.” “Brace before you lift.” They are all great instructions, but meaningless if you don’t know what to do. I’ve even heard people being told “imagine that you’re trying to stop weeing.”

Just. Not. Good. Enough.

My guess is that most of those times being told this or whatever other ineffective cue you were given, it never got explained to you in a way that you could actually apply it.

This is a major bug bear of mine. And I will tell you why.

Being able to properly ‘engage your core’ isn’t just a little bit of icing on the cake. It’s not just about making your workouts a little bit fancier, or showing off at the gym because you know your shizzle.

It is actually crucial in protecting your spine. It is essential to ensuring your form. It is key to making your exercise effective.

Many people can get away with not doing it for years if they are not doing serious exercise, but try to do a deadlift or a loaded back squat without proper core engagement, and you can be looking at a serious injury.

Within my monthly exercise plans which are part of my paid subscription, I want my members doing this when they practise their movements.

But even if you don’t subscribe to my paid membership, I want you to be going out to the gym and approaching your routine in a way which keeps you safe, and also which makes your technique more effective.

What bracing and ‘finding a neutral spine’ mean:

Let’s ditch the jargon and the fancy words. It’s much simpler than it sounds.

While all spines are a little different, and some can be a bit hunched at the top (kyphosis) or curved inward at the bottom (lordosis), most people have a spine that has a natural, slightly curved shape. This is neutral.

‘Bracing’ is tightening the muscles around your trunk, front, back, and sides, so that your body and spine stays supported and stable while you move, rather than collapsing, rounding, or over-arching under load.

Those muscles in those places are effectively your ‘core’, and they compress around your spine to protect it when you ‘engage’ it.

You’re not sucking your tummy in, nor are you holding your breath.

What we are aiming for with this action is to form a tension throughout the ‘core’ that protects your spine while you do something with your body.

This applies whether you are lifting a weight, standing up from a chair, picking up a child, or squatting down to look in a cupboard.

The cue I prefer to use:

Like Dr Kelly Starrett, whose coaching on this has influenced a lot of how I teach it, I ask clients to engage their core in a specific order. It’s done in this order so every step sets up the next, and so clients learn a process that helps them remember.

• First, contract your buttocks. Squeeze them properly. The immediate effect of this is to bring your pelvis into alignment under your spine, rather than tilted forward or back, which is the position everything else needs to be built on.

• Then, tighten your tummy as if someone were about to punch you in it. Not sucked in. Not held. Braced, hard, the way you’d instinctively tense if you actually expected impact. You are creating functional core tension here.

• Then, walk a few paces holding that position. Once you’ve fully mastered core engagement, you don’t need to keep doing the walking bit before exercising or doing a lift - but while you’re learning, it helps to build the habit. I get my back class to do this every week. Bracing while standing still is one thing, but you need to practice the skill of bracing while walking, too. As you become accustomed to holding your body in this way, you will start to use the technique more naturally in everything you do, not just during exercise.

Remember, your spine needs protection in your day-to-day activities like bending, lifting and even walking. Posture when walking can make a difference to feeling low back pain or not.

When I talk about “engaging your core” or “finding a neutral spine” in class, this is exactly what I mean.

[Watch my video: How to engage your core]

Common mistakes I see:

Holding your breath instead of bracing. Holding your breath is not a substitute for finding actual core tension, and is a completely different mechanism. If anything, it adds unnecessary strain and cuts off just as soon as you exhale, right when you might still need the support.

“Sucking in” mistaken for bracing. Pulling your stomach in flat actually weakens your ability to brace properly, since it disengages the muscles that create the all-around pressure that is actually needed. Bracing should feel like your whole midsection has firmed up, more of a tense, than a suck. As I said earlier, imagine someone was going to punch you in the tummy. You want it hard, not sucked in.

Over-arching, or under-bracing entirely. Some people compensate for a weak brace by arching their lower back and flaring their ribs instead, which puts unwanted pressure through the spine rather than protecting it.

Why this matters beyond the gym:

As I have said above, this isn’t just a training cue for when you are in the gym or following my exercise plans.

You need to get into the habit of doing this when you go about your day. For example, before you pick up a shopping bag, lift up a box that the courier left dumped on your doorstep, or are putting the grandkids into the bath.

You can even use it when you have a bad cough - believe it or not, many people with weakened tissues in the back actually put their backs out when they cough! (It happened to me years ago, post child-birth, when everything was still very relaxed).

Practise this during all your training, and it will eventually stop being something you have to think about consciously. It becomes the position your body defaults to under load, which is exactly the protection you want for the decades ahead.

Hope this was useful to you? It’s the article I knew I needed to get up here. Please share far and wide because this is so essential for everyone to understand.

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Before you go:

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Paid subscribers benefit from a new exercise plan every month that is accompanied with videos and includes both beginner options as well as more challenging progressions, free downloads, and depending on your level, check-ins from me or live Q&A!

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Disclaimer:

This content is for educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for medical advice. I am not a clinician. Please check with your doctor before trying new exercises or taking health advice on this page; especially if you have osteoporosis, a diagnosed condition, or any concerns about your health.

This teaching draws on the coaching approach of Dr Kelly Starrett.

There is a lady who comes regularly to my back care class. She frequently shares her experience and progress with the other class members, and I’m always thankful that she does.

“It got worse before it got better,” she’ll tell the newbies.

She isn’t saying it to sound clever, but because it’s true, and she knows it might help. She remembers that after her own first attendance, she was close to not coming back to the class again, and she doesn’t want others to be in that same position. This is a message that is important.

When my class member first joined, she told me she had bad sciatica. It was pain that ran from her lower back, down through her hip, and into her leg. It was the type of pain that made ordinary life, doing things like driving, sitting at a desk, standing in a supermarket queue, into something to be endured instead of lived.

Like many people do, she had tried the usual things. The first being rest - which many think is the key solution. Then painkillers. And just waiting it out - to see if it will go away of its own accord. None of it had helped.

At her second class, she told me the pain had been much worse after coming the previous week. She was understandably apprehensive about continuing. Her husband had assured her that it was likely due to it being the first time. I’m glad he did. Because then I got the chance to reassure her that this was likely the case.

She came back for the third time - having noted that the pain she felt was just slightly better after her second class. From there, the improvements started to be very noticeable.

Now, she is a regular class member, and one of the champions of the class. She has seen a dramatic reduction in pain. And she wants to let others know about it.

Why sciatica gets worse before it gets better when you start exercising:

Time for some good old fashioned honesty. I think the fitness industry does a disservice to people by promising magical results too quickly. Or by showing all the ‘befores’ and ‘afters’, but skipping the gritty bits in the middle.

Regarding sciatica specifically, it happens when the sciatic nerve - which runs from the lower back right through the hip, down the back of the leg and to the foot, becomes compressed, ‘pinched,’ or inflamed.

It can happen for many reasons - commonly due to a vertebral disc problem, or degeneration in the spine (which is very common as we age, and there’s not a lot we can do about it apart from address the tissue creep, which I talked about in my article on prolonged sitting and back pain).

Osteoporosis as well can be indirectly linked to sciatica, when spinal fractures, and the vertebrae compression that results, can cause nerve impingement.

The pain can radiate from the back and the whole way down the leg, and it can be extremely severe in some cases.

Sciatic-like symptoms can even result not from the spine, but from issues like hamstring tendinopathy, as I know myself from personal experience. I get sciatica mildly when I have a hamstring tendinopathy flare. I also have osteoarthritis in my spine which is a culprit.

But due to my training, I know what I can do, and what I should be doing when it isn’t flared up.

For people new to purposeful exercise, it’s entirely usual for a deconditioned body to ‘feel it’ after spending time in new movement patterns that it isn’t used to.

When someone has been in pain for a long period, they understandably can spend a lot of time ‘guarding’ themselves against further pain. They do this by avoiding certain positions and doing less. So, when they do new movements, the nerves and tissues are often irritated and over-sensitive. Even with a selection of carefully chosen, appropriate movements.

This doesn’t mean the movement is wrong or shouldn’t be attempted. It is just worth understanding that this is a recognised pattern of how sciatica responds. Especially as it can make all the difference as to whether a person continues or not with the exercise. Exercise that in time, will make the problem and the pain better, not worse.

How sciatica responds to movement:

Movement of course helps to increase blood flow to the muscles and the nerve itself. This is why so many people who attend my back class (bearing in mind they don’t just attend because of sciatic pain) often report that they feel better straight after the class - because blood flow has helped reduce pain.

Over time, the movement and the impacts from it help to relieve the inflammation. Nutrients are delivered to the tissue for repair, and the tiny stresses that are placed upon the tissues as they are exercised also result in adaptations that make them stronger.

The discs in your spine, which act as shock absorbers between the vertebrae, respond to load in a similar way. Movement helps them draw in fluid and nutrients, which supports their health over time, where prolonged stillness tends to do the opposite.

In fact, prolonged stillness doesn’t just fail to help, it can actually starve those tissues of the nutrients and lubrication they need. It is part of why ‘resting’ makes the problem so much worse, the longer it goes on.

Like everything with the body, we ‘use it or lose it’. Where joints and tissues are not used, the body stops sending lubricating fluid there. Why lubricate a joint that isn’t moving?

There’s a nerve-specific component to what is going on, as well. Gentle, repeated movement helps a nerve that’s become a little “stuck” to the tissue around it to regain its ability to glide freely again. This is why targeted movement, not rest, is now the standard recommendation for most sciatica.

The bed rest that used to be advised to help sciatica and low back pain decades ago is very archaic and outdated. We need to kick that idea right into the dust.

Of course - knowing all of this isn’t going to make it any more comfortable to get through that worse-before-better week, but it does help with reframing it. It’s not that your body is telling you to stop, but that your body is trying to help you heal.

It can take courage to tread the path that works:

As you read earlier, my class member returned the week after her first, and the week after that. She only doesn’t come now if she’s on holiday.

I think this is really crucial to the story. When she made the decision to return, she didn’t have any proof it would work. I’d mentioned to the class members it might feel worse if this was the first time they were working their bodies, so she had my word. And her husband had tried to give her some positive encouragement.

But ultimately, this lady just felt she had to try something new. What she’d previously been doing - no proactive movement that was directly targeting her back problems - obviously wasn’t working for her.

Her pain point had become too great not to persist. Of course, she’s now absolutely glad that she did.

Now, she barely notices the pain. There are occasional twinges, and it depends on what she’s been up to. But overall, she frequently reports that she’s seen huge improvements in her day-to-day life.

This is priceless, really. When someone has started being pain-free more than they were in pain - what a dramatic difference to their quality of life.

If you’re feeling pain right now:

If you’re dealing with sciatica, or any longstanding low back pain, and you’ve tried moving and found it made things feel worse initially, I don’t want you to read this and think you simply didn’t try hard enough.

Nor do I want you to think that gritting your teeth through any and all discomfort is automatically what you should be doing. That’s not what this is about, and it’s very important to get proper guidance before starting.

This advice particularly stands if your pain is severe, if you have any numbness or weakness, or if it’s been going on for a long time without you ever being assessed.

Take note of this latter point especially. Whether you’re here to follow my advice, or want to attend a class locally to you, or generally just want to start moving more, if you have never had a professional assessment of the origin of your back pain or sciatica, I urge you to get an appointment booked in right now.

But if you’ve been told by your doctor or medical consultant that movement should be part of the way through for you, since the overall advice for sciatica is to stay active, then I’d like you to take this following advice, based on my class member’s experience:

• A short flare in the first week or two of appropriate movement is a known, common pattern, not automatically a red flag:

• It’s most likely that your body is responding to the activity and sensory input that it hasn’t received in a while.

• Most cases of sciatica truly do improve substantially within four to twelve weeks with the right conservative approach:

• This is an evidence-backed timeframe, not just me trying to give you hope. If you’re a week or two in, you are not yet in a position to assess whether it’s working.

The exercise needs to be the right kind:

Doing it alone, from a random video you found with no context, so often doesn’t work as well as doing it within a proper class or purposeful programme. It’s generally a mix of movement needed, rather than “one perfect exercise”, and this mixture needs to practised over time (though please see the note further down regarding ‘directional preference’).

If it’s getting worse past that initial early timeframe, or you notice new numbness or weakness, then you need to go back to your doctor and be reassessed:

Persistence isn’t the same as ignoring your body. You should not push through regardless if your symptoms get dramatically worse, or new symptoms occur.

Movements that can offer relief:

In the meantime, I can offer you a couple of temporary relief options. But remembering what I said about “one perfect exercise” not being the answer. Most sciatica cases need a more holistic approach with several exercises (for example in my case, due to hamstring tendinopathy, I have to do hamstring strengthening exercise as part of my overall routine).

Before you try these, you need to do a quick self-test. Notice what your body is already saying to you.

• Does sitting or bending forward ease the pain, or make it worse?

• Does standing or gently arching your back ease the pain, or make it worse?

Whichever direction the pain gets worse or better is going to make your decision as to which exercise to try. In physiotherapy, this is called ‘directional preference’ and is based on the McKenzie method.

Option 1: If bending forward eases the pain (flexion relief):

Knee-to-chest stretch:

>Lie on your back and gently draw one knee up toward your chest, hugging it there for 20-30 seconds, then switch sides. This opens up the space around the lower spine, which tends to help when standing or arching backwards is causing the aggravation.<

This pattern is often associated with spinal stenosis or facet joint irritation, where extension (arching back) narrows the space that the nerve passes through, and flexion (curving the back) opens it back up.

Option 2: If standing or arching back eases the pain (extension relief):

Prone press-up:

>Lie face down and place your hands under your shoulders. Gently press your upper body up, letting your hips stay on the floor, like the early phase of a yoga cobra stretch. Hold briefly, then lower down with control.<

This pattern is often associated with a disc-related cause, where prolonged sitting or bending forward increases pressure on the front of the disc, and extension can help ease pressure off the nerve.

If you’re finding this helpful, you’ll probably know someone else who also will! Please share!

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An important caveat: These options only work if you are going off what your body is telling you in the directional preference test. If trying either movement makes the pain worse, or sends it even further down your leg, stop immediately (see my note earlier about any numbness or weakness needing a proper assessment).

Going back to the lady in my class with sciatica, she is now one of the biggest advocates for the class. I often spot her speaking to new members to let them know how life has changed for her.

This is amazing, and exactly why I do what I do.

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Disclaimer:

This content is for educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for medical advice. I am not a clinician. Please check with your doctor before trying new exercises or taking health advice on this page; especially if you have osteoporosis, a diagnosed condition, or any concerns about your health.

How many hours do you sit at a desk during your working day? Does your butt stay glued to the chair more than your feet ever get to tread the carpet? Or do you incorporate movement into your seated day?

While you think about the answers, please take a moment to subscribe for free, and then I shall continue:

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The desk job dilemma

It’s long been established that prolonged sitting is bad for backs, but a recent 2025 study among office workers found that static sitting behaviour is more strongly associated with low back pain, than sitting which incorporates movement.

In my years as a full-time freelance journalist, I sat more than I moved. I was usually so foot-to-the-pedal with work, that I didn’t get up except for tea breaks and to walk the dog. Sometimes, in very busy periods or on a deadline, I could be at my desk for 10 hours.

Combined with the stress that sometimes a freelance journalist life could bring, my lifestyle ultimately played havoc with my bio-mechanics.

No gain, lots of pain

My shoulders and neck were sore all the time. Tension knots in my upper back and around my shoulder blades were hard to undo, even by the toughest and most painful deep tissue massage.

I had repetitive strain injury in my wrists. This could be agony at times. Affecting such a small part of the body, RSI sure made a big noise. I got it in my hands, too, from using my mouse.

Then came the back pain. Gnawing across my lower back. It drove me mad as I struggled all day to reposition myself in a way that it wouldn’t hurt.

After sleep, some days I’d wake up feeling like the aches had eased. However, after a couple of hours back at my desk, the nerve twinges were pinging again, and the knots were balling tighter.

Sound familiar? Well, if it’s any consolation, I no longer have low back pain. Admittedly, I sit nowhere near as much as I used to. But my posture and body are so much stronger now. This means that the longer periods I am sitting (like when writing this) are far more tolerable.

Quite a bit changed for me - not just my working life altogether, but my whole outlook to health and to what actually is a fitness routine.

Before we go on, let me unpack a few need-to-knows about why prolonged sitting - and static sitting especially - is a big old pain in the back.

The silent creep, pelvic tilt and ‘sleepy’ glutes

Have you ever heard of tissue creep? In simple terms, it is the lengthening and stretching of tissues such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments, when they are being forced into a continual position over time.

Sitting slouched in one position for hours on end means a low-level load is placed on the tissues in the back for a long period. Over time, this causes connective tissues to weaken and misalign, leading to muscle imbalances, strain and pain.

Combine this also with the fact that the body elsewhere is in a rigid position that it is not meant to be in for hours on end. Our bodies were made to move, not to be still.

The pelvis tilts backward when we sit. Over an extended duration, there is a load on the lower spine that isn’t being supported in the same way as if we were standing or moving. This load can cause issues in the lower vertebrae and muscles around the pelvis and lower back, further contributing to the incidence of low back pain.

Then we also have the fact that our glutes (the big muscles in our bums) - being sat on instead of being strengthened, start to weaken from disuse. One of their key jobs though, is to support the spine, so we need them strong. As I tell my back class participants, of all the muscles in the body that are most important to the back, it’s probably the glutes.

Ultimately, most people with low back pain that comes from prolonged sitting will likely have a combination of these disrupted biomechanisms going on. You might not know which exact part of the internal machinery is causing the most issue, but your body will certainly tell you where the most stress is.

To put another spanner in the works - sitting for long stretches doesn’t just affect your back. There’s a growing body of research on what it does to your heart, too, and this is even for people who exercise regularly. I’ll come back to this properly in a future piece.

So, how do we fix it?

The good news is, for the majority of people, a holistic approach to spine hygiene and back strengthening generally works. The body moves together in all its amazing ways, and isolation of individual parts in a treatment plan is usually not necessary, or only for very rare cases.

Overall, I’ve generally gone for a ‘total body’ approach in most areas of my client programming - because it corrects imbalances and stops them developing, as well as the fact that every part of our body needs another part to also work properly.

However, before we delve into the physical - what about the environment we’re actually working in?

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Ergomonics matter (but not as much as movement)

Going back to my experience, in those days where I was suffering substantially. I managed my setup. Gel rest for my arms, mouse pad with a rest. I bought a specialist ergonomic chair.

I even trained myself to use my mouse left-handed as well as right-handed, so I could switch over when I needed to rest one hand. I also bought wrist splints to sleep in at night, which helped to immobilise my wrists and forearms to give them rest.

It offered some light relief, and did make a difference to my working day. Especially investing in a proper chair. Of course, now, standing desks are an option - in my old school journalist days, they were relatively unheard of. Although, I don’t have one, because it would mean a lot of reorganising of my space.

As well, new evidence shows us that it is our movement patterns that matter more - breaking from a static position frequently is more beneficial than either sitting or standing statically.

In fact, standing statically for many hours also causes load to be placed on the lower back, and can contribute to lower back pain. So standing desks are not the magical solution we imagined.

All of these ideas - ergonomic chairs, wrist splints, gel rests - are only part of a solution to a bigger problem. Like putting scaffolding up around a house that’s cracking. The scaffolding will only hold it so long, you have to get down to the foundations to fix it.

So, what movement can help?

Firstly, anyone who is already appropriately strength training two or three times a week with a total body approach is going to be in a better position. Anything we do that keeps the muscles supporting the spine healthy and activated is obviously going to help reduce our chance of low back pain.

I use the word ‘appropriately’ above, though. I’ve had clients who started the gym without knowing what they’re doing. They go and attempt a macho deadlift way beyond their capacity. Hey presto - they put their back out. Well, I could have told you that was going to happen.

However, I can’t emphasise enough that getting into an actual strength training routine that is right for your body, where it’s at, is going to help you no end. If you subscribe to my publication, you will learn how I value strengthening over stretching, always.

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I’m aware though that not everyone reading this is going to start strength training in the gym, or even at home. You want a few practical tips that will help you each day.

Become the tea runner (and other practical advice)

Maintaining a regular shift in posture is key to reducing the low back pain that comes from sitting. Active breaks take the pressure off the spine. Move for a few minutes at least every 30 minutes.

What kind of movement counts? Any that is practical! Get up, and jog or march on the spot. Run up and down stairs a few times. If you work from home or are in your own office, you have more options.

Do a few squats, star jumps and strong retractions of the arms and shoulders.

Keeping the blood pumping is also important, as noted above regarding cardiovascular health. But blood flowing into the tissues around the spine will also help reduce pain.

Find more ways to be active during the working day. Use any phone call as an opportunity to stand and walk. Become the tea runner in the office. Offer to do errands when the opportunities arise in a bid to move more.

For wrists and hands, try prayer presses. Put the hands together at the chest as if praying, and press really hard for a few seconds. Do a few reps, followed with some hand rotations at the wrist. Have a break from typing, and if you can, try a mouse hand swap.

‘Reactivate’ your glutes and release your pelvis!

Once you’ve finished your desk day - get into the habit of doing two key exercises:

1. Cossack lunge - this is my favourite for opening the hips and helping to reposition the pelvis after a long day of sitting. It strengthens the legs and works wonders for the hip flexors. It’s a variation on the cossack squat, not as deep and easier for beginners. Because it’s a more demanding one to master, I’m giving you a video demonstration to help.
   
   Do about 20 altogether (10 each side) and focus on form - you may well feel a lot of relief from the pressure of sitting after doing just a few of these, too.
   
   NOTE: This is a fairly demanding exercise for newbies. If you have limited balance or hip mobility, try holding a chair when doing it. An alternative can be alternate side lunges - stepping into a side lunge, stepping back to the middle, then stepping into a lunge on the other side. Taking your time to pause in the middle, rather than trying to move quickly from one side to the other.

   

2. Glute bridge - a number one exercise for glute strengthening. Lie down on a mat or carpet, palms positioned downwards, knees bent, heels close to the bum. Squeeze the bum while pushing the body up, so the belly button is high. Keep squeezing for a few seconds, then relax and lower. Do 5-10 reps for 2 sets.

   
   NOTE: As you get stronger, you can hold a weight at your lap to add load.

   

Make the rest of your time active

DO NOT come home from work and simply sit down again. Spend some time moving. Unless of course you want a lifelong low back pain problem to develop.

Do the above exercises. Go for a walk, go for a short run, do some cleaning, get some cooking done. Do some structured strength training.

If there’s something you want to watch on TV - either do it standing up, or sit on the floor instead of the sofa.

Dr Kelly Starrett, a very well respected physical therapist, advises we should sit on the floor for 20-30 minutes daily. It combats the rigid postures of being substantially chair-bound.

Keeping the movement patterns flexible and flowing during the working day will help immensely. However, if you have developed a lot of tissue creep and imbalances due to sitting for many years, then consider starting a back strengthening programme.

What happened to me?

Did I become a changed character and start doing all this type of exercise during my working day? Nope. I knew none of this back then.

As it turned out, the shift in the media world as print journalism moved online meant I had to adapt and reevaluate my career. It moved in new directions and I wasn’t sitting anywhere near as much as I used to.

I also got into fitness, and a more ‘on the go’ working life combined with the aerobic activity took away my back pain and RSI problems.

But now, since I have returned a little more to desk work, I do of course practise all that I preach.

Once I completed my Level 4 Low Back Pain Management Through Exercise qualification, I also now offer back care programmes for organisations, to help their workplace teams.

I would love to know if this advice has helped you. Please comment if it has?

Before you go:

Whether you are an individual or an organisation, if health and wellness is important to you, then please subscribe here for free. Expect a weekly, informative article along my themes of strong backs, strong bones, strong muscles - and follow me for notes with useful daily tips.

Subscribe now

Disclaimer:

This content is for educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for medical advice. Please check with your doctor before trying new exercises or taking health advice on this page; especially if you have osteoporosis, a diagnosed condition, or any concerns about your health.