Hanging From A Bar For Back Pain: Does it actually work?

Decompressing your spine seems to be a go-to relief strategy for a lot of people with persistent low back pain.

Spinal decompression is something I have done both professionally inside of a clinic as well as from the comfort of my own home.

The question is will something as simple as hanging from a bar help or hurt my chances of getting long-term back pain relief and if so what’s the best way to do it?

In today’s video, I talk about the decompression strategy of hanging from a pull-up bar and some of the errors of doing it along with the best ways to use hanging from a pull-up bar to work towards long-term back pain relief.

Is Hanging From A Bar Good For Herniated Disc?

Without context hanging from a bar for a herniated disc makes sense. You have two vertebrae squishing the intervertebral disc so much that the disc is bulging or has become herniated and is now pressing on one of the nerves in your low back (or not).

So decompressing these discs by somehow pulling them apart will (over time) allow that disc to go back in place.

If it was that simple then all signs point to this being a solid strategy in your toolbox for building resilience and getting out of chronic low back pain.

With that being said there are more things going on when you decide to start pulling yourself apart in hopes of getting relief.

For example, you have what is called your Protection Mechanism which is when your body responds to threatening things by protecting. For those with low back pain, this often looks like low back tightness, spasms, or general pain.

So you have to proceed with caution and make sure that you are not making things worse in the form of chronic muscle tightness and spasms by trying to force this stretch on the spine.

I would say it is definitely something you can try but make sure you’re doing it right.

I cover this in more detail in today’s video.

How Can I Decompress My Spine At home?

There are a number of ways you can decompress your spine at home.

One is simply hanging from a bar you have in your home or maybe even a branch on a tree in your yard. Essentially it’s all the same as long as you are doing it with caution and correctly.

One way to decompress your spine is simply laying on your belly with a pillow under your hip.

This is a super gentle way to decompress the lower back for a number of back pain situations. My top reasons for this as my number one go-to would be the ability to focus more on your breathing while in this position than anything else.

When on your belly focus on relaxing every muscle in your body and taking full DEEP breaths into the troubled area.

I did a whole live video on this exact strategy you can check out here.

Another great way to decompress the spine is using a desk, park bench, or countertop.

This is a little more involved than the strategy above but you can get the same effect right from home.

Essentially what you’re doing is with straight arms put your palms face down on the edge of a chair or countertop. Shift your weight over your palms (still with straight arms) and allow your body weight to rest on those palms and straight arms. Once you are up, start to relax the lower back and body while keeping the tension in your arms and shoulder which essentially is holding you up.

You should feel a gentle pull on the lower back hold this for 30-40 seconds or as long as you feel comfortable within that time frame. Longer is NOT better so do short bursts of this over time.

I did an entire video using this strategy along with others you can use.

Check out the video below!