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Early Pregnancy Back Pain

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Ask Doctor Jo brings in reinforcements for one of pregnancy’s most stubborn complaints: the lower back pain that shows up as the belly grows and the center of gravity shifts.

In “5 Best Pregnancy Lower Back Pain Relief Exercises,” physical therapist Dr. Jo hands the floor to Dr. Jen, a pelvic floor physical therapist who happens to be visibly pregnant herself during filming. Together they walk through five specific movements built to mobilize and stabilize the pelvis without medication, addressing the postural shifts that make the lower back ache as pregnancy progresses. The tone throughout is deliberately low-key — no strain, no big reps, just controlled mobility work.

• The routine is built around five sequential moves: anterior/posterior pelvic tilts, lateral pelvic tilts, a core-stability-into-glute-bridge combination, quadruped cat/cow tilts, and a child’s pose finish.
• Dr. Jen specifically cues participants to keep breathing normally — not holding the breath — while activating the diaphragm, pelvic floor, transversus abdominis, and multifidus before progressing into the glute bridge.
• For later trimesters, Dr. Jen recommends placing a pillow under the torso during child’s pose to accommodate a growing belly and keep the stretch comfortable.

Five Moves Built Around the Pelvis

Dr. Jo and Dr. Jen frame the whole session around one joint: the pelvis. As the uterus grows and the body’s center of gravity moves forward, the lower back and pelvic girdle absorb the extra load, and that’s exactly where the routine starts. The first exercise, anterior and posterior pelvic tilts, has participants rock the hips forward and back to loosen the lower back before anything more demanding happens. From there, Dr. Jen demonstrates lateral pelvic tilts, shifting the hips side to side to release tension that builds up unevenly, especially in women who spend a lot of time sitting or standing on one leg.

Core Stability Comes Before the Glute Bridge

The third move is where the session gets more technical. Dr. Jen walks through activating the deep core system — diaphragm, pelvic floor, transversus abdominis, and multifidus — while breathing continuously, then uses that same activation to move into a glute bridge that engages the posterior chain. The instruction to keep breathing rather than brace and hold is the whole point of the exercise; it’s a habit Dr. Jen flags directly for anyone doing pelvic floor work during pregnancy.

Don’t hold your breath — keep breathing normally as you engage before bridging into the glute bridge.

That cue matters more than it sounds. Bracing and holding the breath spikes intra-abdominal pressure, which is exactly what pelvic floor physical therapists try to avoid teaching pregnant patients. Readers who want a broader framework for managing pregnancy-specific discomfort, including skin changes that show up alongside the aches, can see how other pregnancy-related concerns get addressed elsewhere on the site.

Cat/Cow on All Fours

The fourth exercise moves the routine onto the floor. Dr. Jo and Dr. Jen transition into quadruped pelvic tilts — the forward-and-back motion most people know as cat/cow or cat/dog — along with gentle lateral tilts in the same position. Working on all fours takes gravity’s pull off the spine, letting the pelvis move more freely than it can standing up, which is why this position shows up in nearly every prenatal mobility routine built around back pain.

Finishing in Child’s Pose

The session closes with a restorative child’s pose meant to decompress the spine and hips after the more active work. Dr. Jen adds a practical adjustment for women further along in pregnancy: sliding a pillow under the torso so the growing belly has support and the stretch stays comfortable rather than strained. It’s a small modification, but it’s the kind of detail that separates a generic stretch demonstration from one built specifically around a pregnant body — and it’s consistent with the gentle, controlled approach both therapists maintain from the first pelvic tilt to the last breath in child’s pose.