In this 10‑minute instructional video, Lindsay Baumgren (≈26 weeks pregnant) leads viewers through eight prenatal stretches designed to alleviate low back pain and sciatica common in the second and third trimesters. The routine begins with transverse abdominal (belly) breathing combined with a pelvic tilt to activate the deep core, then moves through a seated wide‑leg adductor stretch, a seated figure‑four/piriformis stretch, a quadruped tabletop position with continued belly breathing, a flowing tabletop‑to‑child’s‑pose sequence, a kneeling hip‑flexor stretch (with optional variations), a standing forward‑hang to release tension throughout the back, and finishes with targeted foam‑roller work on the glutes and piriformis. Each stretch is held for roughly 40 seconds, with cues on breathing, alignment, and optional intensifications. Lindsay intersperses explanations of why each movement helps the core, pelvis, and lower back, mentions anecdotal benefits (e.g., reduced nighttime urination), and encourages viewers to repeat the routine as needed. The video concludes with a brief promotion of her broader prenatal and postpartum workout library at nourishmovelove.com.
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Hi, I'm Lindsay Baumgren of Nourishment With Love, and today I am sharing eight prenatal stretches for low back pain. Okay, So I am about 26 weeks pregnant at the tail end of my second trimester, and I've been hearing from a lot of other pregnant mamas. One of the biggest common ailments is low back pain. So I'm going to take you through eight of my favorite stretches to help alleviate that low back pain. So we're going to move through each stretch for around 40 seconds of work, and you can continue to hold it if you want to or continue to work through this as you see fit for you. But basically, we're gonna hold each stretch for around 40 seconds. It's gonna round us out around 10 minutes of stretching together. And then you can always come back to this workout and use it as you choose. So we're gonna jump right in. There's no warmup, no cool down. We're basically just stretching. And we're actually gonna start by moving over to this pole. So you could take yourself to a wall that you have at home. But basically, I'm gonna come against this pole because it's a really great visual. So we're starting with t belly breathing or transverse abdominal breathing. So something you've probably heard of throughout pregnancy, but basically it's where inhale, my belly expands. Exhale, my belly's going to contract. I'm going to use my transverse abdominals, which are the muscles that run alongside me like a corset, and they come together like this, like shoelaces do to a shoe. Okay. So that's the muscles I'm focusing on. And so I'm adding this wall or this pole behind me. So you can see this anti this height pelvic tilt that's happening at the same time. So inhale, belly expands, exhale, Pull the baby nice and tight. And then you'll see my slight pelvic tilt where my hips come stacked underneath the baby, underneath my rib cage. That's what we're looking for. Okay, so belly breathing, we're gonna work through this for 40 seconds. So big inhale, exhale. Pull those shoelaces around your belly. Tilt the pelvic nice. And then do it again. Big inhale, exhale, Pull the belly nice and tight. You'll see I'm using my hands. I like making that mind muscle connection. Inhale, hands come apart. Exhale, Hands come together like the abs contract across my body. And I tilt that pelvis underneath my rib cage to get my Back as flat as I can against that wall. Big inhale, belly expands. And do it again. Exhale. Nice. We're gonna do about two more big breaths here. Big inhale. Last one. Exhale. One more for the big finish. Big inhale. And exhale. Awesome job. So that is move number one. And you're like, why did I do that for my back pain? And it's because we're working on strengthening our core and our transverse abdominals. That's really going to help take away that back pain that you commonly experience. So now we're actually going to come to a seated position so you can find a chair or bench. Going to take a nice wide leg stance here. Make plenty of space for baby. And I'm just going to stretch side to side. So I'm pushing into one leg as I drop my shoulder back to center. Same thing. Other side. So I'm stretching through my adductors here, which are my inner thighs. Okay. So we're going to be stretching our adductors. We'll also be stretching our outer glutes and paraphoris both. All. They're all connected to my pelvis. There's actually the core is 29 muscles between my head and my pelvic floor. So I'm working on several core muscles that we're kind of releasing tension between, and the adductor is one of them. And so I'm just going to move side to side here. Nice. A lot of pelvic tilting and shifting happening during pregnancy. That's where you'll experience that sciatica SPD pain. These are all great stretches for that. Nice. So you're going to come back to center. So that's our little inner thigh stretch. And now we're going to move to a seated para femoris stretch or, like, commonly known as a pretzel or figure four, so. Or pigeon, if you're doing it from the ground. But we're going to hit the paraphormoris, which is this outer glute muscle. So I'm going to take my right ankle and bring it across my left knee, and I'm going to just sit up nice and tall here. Thinking about spreading my sit bones apart, the bones underneath that I'm sitting on. And I'm thinking about twisting my shin away from me. Shin is twisting away from me, and I'm just sitting up nice and tall. You're going to feel a nice stretch right here in this outer glute muscle. And then if you want to intensify it a little bit, you can Pretend there's, like a straight pulling you forward, just a slight hinge forward right there. Pulling my sternum forward. And I'm really going to get into this paraphemoris. So sciatica pain is one of the most common. That's actually the pain that I'm struggling with. This third pregnancy. I used to never. I didn't have it with my previous two, but I've been told that it's really important to keep your glutes loose during this time in this paraphoris. So this is really important for that sciatica pain that you might be experiencing. So we're just gonna hold here. Awesome. And then we're just gonna switch it out and do the same thing on the other side. So I'm just gonna switch legs. I'm gonna bring the other ankle up to the knee. Same thing. I'm gonna sit up nice and tall here. Twist that shin away from me. Think about splitting my shin in half as I slightly pull my sternum forward. And I can just sit right here into this para femur stretch. You can do this from the ground from a half pigeon. Now, you could also use this box that I'm sitting on and come over into a stance like this. And I could put that chin parallel, and I could sit just like this. So there's a lot of ways to take this stretch to intensify this stretch. You choose what works best for you. This is a great way to intensify the stretch and not only get my para femoris, but also get my hip flexor of my opposing leg as well. So a lot of ways to do this stretch. It's one of my favorite stretches. I also have a foam roller here by my side, and I'll show you how we can foam roll out that paraphoris at the end as well. So awesome work. Nice work. You're going to hold here for about 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And then from here, we're going to come down to the ground, and we are going to go into a quadruped position. So I'm going to be on all fours. And this is just a really great way to roll out the spine. So I'm going to find a nice neutral spine. And then I'm just going to do that belly breathing again. So I'm going to drop the belly, big inhale, and then exhale. Hold the belly tight. As my gaze comes down towards the baby rounding out, think about spreading my shoulder blades apart. Big inhale, belly drop, big exhale. This tabletop position. A great Way to relieve lower back pain while strengthening your deep transverse core muscles. Big inhale and exhale. I've also been told, and I don't know the science behind this, but I've tried it and it does work, that if you do tabletop, this belly breathing in tabletop position before bed and you do it for two minutes, it will alleviate the number of times you have to pee in the middle of the night, which, as you know, as you move into that second, third trimester, becomes a lot of peeing. Last one right here. So do that for two minutes before bed and you won't have to get up in the middle of the night to pee. I don't know. You can't quote me on it, but I've heard that. Okay, guys, and then from here, we're actually just going to hold this tabletop position. I'm going to turn to the side, so I'm going to go tabletop. Knees are going to come nice and wide. Big toes to touch. Push back, child's pose, tabletop push back, child's pose. And if child's pose feels really good for you can hold that for a little bit longer. And we're just going to flow through this so you can join when you're ready. You're just alternating pushing back into child's pose. Forehead can come to the mat. Hands reach away and then shifting forward into like a tabletop with a wide leg. So a little bit of almost a frog rock. Opening up the hips and then stretching through that low back. You could also take this up to an incline. I could place my hands right here and I could push back and forward and push back, getting a little bit deeper into that upper body here and forward. Do whatever feels comfortable for you. You're going to take one more. Awesome job. Nice work. And then from here, we're going to come into a kneeling hip flexor stretch. So we got the paraphoris. We got a lot of the back side of our body opening up the back. And I also need to open up the anterior or front side of your body. So I'm going to come into just a kneeling hip flexor stretch. So I'm just going to kneel right here. And it's really about tucking that tailbone underneath me to open up this hip flexor right here. So I'm just going to open up this hip flexor. I could stay here in this half kneeling position. I could use this table to support me. I could. I could push into this knee a little bit and slightly add a little rotation too. To open that up, I could reach overhead and maybe add a slight side bend. Okay. And then ultimately, I'm going to do the same thing on the other side, so. Same thing. Pelvic tuck right here. I can push into this knee. Now, if you're, like, not really feeling the stretch as much as you want to. My personal favorite way to intensify the hip flexor stretch is to come up. You could use a bed, a couch, a chicken chair. Basically, I'm just putting one leg on it, and then I'm just sitting here like this. This is such a good hip flexor stretch. I really love the movement you get here. This is my favorite way to stretch my hip flexors right here. So I'm just going to hold this really good way. Totally safe for the belly. Lots of room, so you can do that on both sides as well. And then from there, we are just going to go into a nice forward hang, so you could grab a chair, whatever you have available to you. I'm going to use this box. Literally just going to hang out here. So I'm literally just going to take a nice, wide stance with my feet. Hands are on the bench, and I am just hanging out here. Now I can sway side to side, add a little bit of movement here, and I'm just releasing all that tension in my low back. And I also like to think here instead of just thinking, okay, all that tension, the low back, the hamstrings, think about relaxing your neck, relaxing your jaw, letting that tongue fall from the roof of your mouth. Just. Just a total hangout right here. Really great opportunity to just hang out, Release all that tension in the hamstrings, the back, the neck, the shoulders, all that tension that can build up so you can hang out there in that forward fold position. You can even take your hands like I had back there on the pole. Wrap your hands around the pole, get a little bit more into it, take it as deep as you want, and then I'm going to show you final stretches that I like to do with the foam roller. I get up every morning and do this stretch. So similar to that forward fold or that hanging, I take a. I'm going to do actually a nice little wide stance. It's like child's pose, but hips are going to stay high. Puppy dog. But I'm placing my hands on the foam roller just to get a little bit more extension through the low back and the spine. So that's one of my favorite stretches to use this foam roller for. And then, because you're probably Sleeping on your side more. Your tfl, your side muscles right here, this paraphoris, this glute are going to get a little bit tight. And like I said, we want to keep those glutes loose. So just finding a nice side stance here. This leg's gonna go straight and I can just roll into this glute muscle right here. I could take this leg over and just do a little bit of a roll right here, just rolling out that glute muscle. And then if I really want to get into my paraphormoris, which I can do, it's this is not one of my favorite, but I've been doing it because it's so good for you. But you're gonna find that Figure 4 position and then I'm gonna slightly tilt over and I'm gonna roll and you're gonna find that paraphramoris and you're gonna know when you find it, trust me. And you're just going to roll it out. It is so good. So painful, but so good. So a little side paraphramorist roll too. So foam rolling can go a long way into your pregnancy as well to help keep those glutes loose and help you avoid sciatica, SPD pain and all that stuff that shifts throughout your pelvic floor as that relaxing sets in and that hip gets a little bit wider. So I hope that you found these low back stretches helpful and I hope that you incorporate them into your routine and you can avoid pain, low back pain, sciatica, all the fun stuff that can come with pregnancy, but help you keep active and moving throughout your pregnancy. We have more workouts that will help you stay active throughout your pregnancy too. From first trimester exercises all the way to third trimester strength cardio barre. We have all those prenatal workouts, you name it, you can carry it into postpartum. And we have full postpartum workout plans. You can find all this information@nourishmovelove.com thanks so much for checking out this stretching video. I hope it helps you and I hope you have a safe pregnancy. We'll look forward to seeing you soon.
