Your low back feels tight. So naturally, you start working on your low back.
But that might not be the only area worth paying attention to.
In this guide, Dr. Allison Coffin, family and pediatric chiropractor, walks through three areas worth checking when your low back feels tight: your low-back muscles, hamstrings, and glutes.
She also demonstrates how she uses the RAD Rod and RAD Recovery Rounds to work each area.
Watch the full walkthrough or jump directly to the area that feels tight.
Jump to: Low back · Hamstrings · Glutes · Which tool should I use?
First: where exactly is your low back?
It’s surprisingly common to call everything between your ribs and hips “my low back.”
Allison starts by narrowing it down.
Your low back sits above the top of your pelvis and below your mid-back. Along either side of the spine are postural muscles called the erectors. These muscles help support you as you stand, move, and stabilize your trunk.
When this area feels especially tight, Allison describes the muscle as sometimes feeling less soft and more like a thick nautical rope underneath the skin.
Start broad with the RAD Rod
Rather than immediately focusing on one tender spot, Allison starts by working across the larger muscular area with the RAD Rod.
Start near the top of the hip and roll along the muscular area beside the spine.
Hold both ends of the RAD Rod and position it behind your back.
Starting near the top of the hip, roll upward along the muscular area beside the spine and then back down.
Allison recommends working each side separately for roughly 10–15 passes, using comfortable pressure and paying attention to how the area feels as you move.
The goal isn’t to overpower a tight spot. Give the area some movement, notice how your body responds, and adjust the pressure accordingly.
Why use the RAD Rod here?
The RAD Rod lets you work across a relatively broad area while controlling the amount of pressure yourself.
That makes it useful when you want to start with a larger muscle group before getting more targeted.
Next: check your hamstrings
Your low back doesn’t move in isolation.
Your hamstrings run along the backs of your thighs and connect into the pelvis. If the backs of your legs feel especially restricted, Allison recommends giving them some attention too.
One simple clue is to bend forward comfortably.
If you immediately feel a lot of tension through the backs of your legs, your hamstrings may be an area worth working.
How Allison uses the RAD Rod on the hamstrings
Place one leg on an elevated surface.
Starting below the glute and stopping before the back of the knee, Allison works across three general areas of the hamstring:
Outside → middle → inside
Move gradually across the muscle rather than repeatedly focusing on one tender point. Then repeat the same process on the opposite leg.
RAD tip: stay on the muscular portion of the hamstring and avoid pressing directly into the back of the knee.
Don’t forget your glutes
Another area Allison checks when someone describes low-back tightness is the glutes.
The glutes are large muscles surrounding the pelvis and hips, and it’s common to find areas that feel especially tight or tender after sitting, training, or repeating similar movements throughout the day.
To work the area with the RAD Rod, Allison places one leg on an elevated surface and rolls across the glute from around the back-pocket area toward the outside of the hip.
Think explore the area rather than trying to attack one particular spot.
Want to get more targeted?
This is where Allison switches tools.
The RAD Recovery Rounds let you concentrate pressure into a smaller area than you can with the Rod.
Rather than thinking of one tool as better than the other, think about the type of pressure you’re looking for.
RAD Rod
Broader application.
A good place to start when you want to work across a larger muscular area.
Recovery Rounds
More targeted application.
Useful when there’s a smaller, more specific area where you want to spend a little more time.
Using Recovery Rounds around the low back
For the low back, Allison uses a wall to help control the pressure.
Place the Recovery Rounds between your back and the wall so they sit against the muscular area beside the spine.
Lean into the wall gently and slowly move your body up and down.
You can control the amount of pressure simply by changing how much of your body weight you lean into the wall.
If you come across an area that feels particularly tender, slow down rather than immediately rolling past it.
Using a Recovery Round on your hamstring
Sometimes the entire hamstring doesn’t feel tight.
There may simply be one area that deserves a little more attention.
Place a Recovery Round beneath the muscular part of the hamstring while seated or lying down.
Then gently move the leg while controlling how much pressure you put into the Round.
Instead of covering the entire hamstring with the Rod, this lets you spend more time on a smaller area.
Using a Recovery Round on your glute
This may be one of the simplest Recovery Round applications in Allison’s routine.
Find a tender muscular area in the glute and position one Recovery Round underneath it.
Sit down and gradually shift some of your body weight onto the Round.
This will generally feel more concentrated than using the RAD Rod, so start with less pressure and adjust based on comfort.
So, which RAD tool should you use?
You don’t necessarily need to think of it as the RAD Rod versus Recovery Rounds.
They give you two different ways to approach the same routine.
Start broad. Get targeted. Keep moving.
| RAD Rod | Recovery Rounds | |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure | Broader | More concentrated |
| Best for | Larger muscular areas | Specific tender areas |
| Low back | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hamstrings | ✓ | ✓ |
| Glutes | ✓ | ✓ |
Use the RAD Rod when you want to work across a larger area.
Reach for the Recovery Rounds when there’s a particular spot where you want more focused pressure.
A simple low-back routine to try
If you want to follow the sequence Allison demonstrates, keep it simple:
- Low back: start broad with the RAD Rod, then use Recovery Rounds for more targeted pressure if needed.
- Hamstrings: work across the backs of the legs with the RAD Rod, then spend more time on a particular area with a Recovery Round if desired.
- Glutes: start broad with the Rod, then use a Recovery Round for a more concentrated application.
You don’t need to spend forever rolling.
Give the area some attention, notice how your body responds, and then get back to moving.
Follow along with Dr. Allison
Want to see the entire routine from beginning to end?
Watch Dr. Allison demonstrate how she uses both tools across the low back, hamstrings, and glutes.
Ready to try it yourself?
This content is intended for general educational purposes and is not a diagnosis or substitute for individualized medical care. Stop if a technique causes significant or worsening pain, and speak with a qualified healthcare professional about persistent, severe, or unexplained pain.
