Low back pain often comes from a mix of tight muscles (hips, hamstrings, spine) and weak stabilizers (core, glutes); combining stretching and strengthening, rather than picking one, is the better approach.

noli's read

The practical advice — combine stretching and strengthening for low back pain — is reasonable and cautious, and lines up with the trunk-training data: a meta-analysis (Wang et al., 2012, 5 trials, n=414) finds core strengthening gives a modest edge on pain and disability over general exercise, an edge that fades by six months. The post's causal story — 'tightness plus weakness equals pain' — is simpler than what the research on non-specific low back pain actually shows: major reviews (Hartvigsen et al., Foster et al., The Lancet, 2018) advise against routine imaging and note that pain isn't explained by individual biomechanical patterns alone; factors like stress, sleep and general activity level matter too. A physical-therapist-led follow-along with gentle movements (cat-cow, bridge, plank) is a low-risk approach generally consistent with guidelines (stay active rather than strict rest). The claim that you need 'both' rather than picking one is well supported; the implicit claim that following this routine 'eliminates' back pain goes beyond what the literature promises for a generic 10-minute routine.

the sources

1. 1Wang XQ, Zheng JJ, Yu ZW, et al. 2012
2. 2Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, et al. 2015
3. 3Hartvigsen J, Hancock MJ, Kongsted A, et al. 2018
4. 4Foster NE, Anema JR, Cherkin D, et al. 2018