If you have back pain, yoga may be the last thing you feel like doing. But after 12 weeks of a gentle, beginner-level yoga program, people in a recent study had as much pain relief as those who did physical therapy sessions. And either type of exercise worked better than doing nothing at all.

How’s your back? About a quarter of Australia’s population experience a back pain episode at any point in time, and nearly all of us (around 85%) will have at least one lifetime experience with back pain.

But treating it seems very difficult. Backing up a 2015 study showing paracetamol is ineffective for back pain, our latest research shows non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Nurofen and Voltaren, provide minimal benefits and high risk of side effects. Here’s what to do instead.

Despite the weird name, "deadbugs" work your core unlike any other exercise. Crunches and sit-ups do very little to resist letting your back arch and "extend", which can then contribute to posture problems and low back, knee and hip pain. This is where deadbugs come in.

Our spines secretly hate us. Approximately three million Australians suffer from some form of back pain. That number is expected to greatly increase over the next few years, thanks to a combination of the desk-bound life and our generally inactive society. Night should seemingly bring relief, but the discomfort doesn't lessen when we lie down.