My husband has very severe back pain, he is really troubled and in severe pain when trying to stand, he also has trouble when he straightens up. I have looked at your excercises for back pain and a lot of them require bending the knees, as my husband cannot bend his right knee (he has had his right knee fused....he has a pin from hip to ankle) can you recommend other excercises to accomodate this?

Here are a few that might be possible:

   1) Whilst stood and using a hand on a table top edge to steady yourself, swing a straight leg forward and back but in a controlled manner. As the hips and lower back loosen, increase the range of the movement.

   2) Any type of sit up should help. The toes should be anchored under the side of a bed or similar. There is absolutely no need to come all the way up, just getting the shoulders off the ground by 3-4" is enough. Try 10 and increase by 2 every day until you get to 30. Much lower back pain is because of relatively weak abdominal muscles, hence the importance of this exercise.

   3) Can your husband swim at all? If not an option, the first exercise is even more effective if performed in a body of water because of the extra resistance.

   4) This one is quite tough but very targeted: lying on your front with arms and legs extended, raise both sets of limbs off the floor and hold for a count of 5. Increase each time if possible.

I hope those are helpful. Please ask your husband not to do any that hurt and do consider asking your doctor for a physiotherapist home visit. It is available on the NHS.

The one other thing to say is that mobility helps flexibility and the fact your husband is looking to incorporate exercise is overall beneficial to his back.

Inactivity breeds stiffness.

Best wishes

Earle