Avoid Back Pain by Keeping Supple
Posted on 17. Oct, 2010 by drchris in Ask Dr. Chris
Avoid Back Pain by Keeping Supple.
Regular stretching is a great way to avoid back pain, since it lengthens tight muscles, loosens joint and promotes fluid and blood flow. Stretching any part of your body can help, including shoulders, arms, legs, trunk, and pelvis, as well as the back itself.. To help you avoid back pain here are a few examples to help you stretch those muscles and get the circulation going.
Starting from the top, first stand erect. Rest your hands upon the hips and shrug your shoulders. Rotate the shoulders in slow motion and to the back up to ten times. Next, perform the same motion in reverse.
Back of the arm: the triceps. Stand erect and lift your right arm over and behind your head and rest the tips of your fingers on the left shoulder. Use your left hand to try and pull the right elbow further to the left, or grab the right forearm and push it back towards the right shoulder, while keeping your right elbow up behind your head. Count to eight and perform the same stretch on the opposite side. Repeat 3-5 times.
Next, swing the arms. Stand up strait with your arms relaxed by your sides. Then raise your arms up in front of you and overhead while breathing in. As you breathe out let your arms carry on circling down and behind you. Repeat this for 10 breaths, then go in the opposite direction – breathe in as you bring your arms up behind you, and out as they come down in front of you.
Now work that torso. Stand erect, keep your feet shoulder distance apart and gradually rotate, starting at the waist, and stretch to one side. Take 3 -5 seconds to rotate. Then stretch and rotate your body to the opposite side. Continue on each side 10 times.
Now, a bit more dynamic. Stand erect, feet shoulder distance apart. Bend the knees slightly. Lock the fingers behind the head, then bend and twist your right elbow towards your left knee, while bringing your left knee up to meet it. Try and bring your knee as high as possible so you don’t have to bend forward so much – it should be more of a rotation. Come back to the starting position so you are standing erect again, then bring left elbow to the right knee in the same fashion. Repeat this 10 – 20 times.
For the lower limb, a great little exercise to perform is leg swinging, especially if you are sat down most of the time. Stand up and hold on to a chair, or something else to balance yourself. Raise one leg strait up in front of you, not too high at first, keep it easy, then let it swing back behind you like a pendulum. Keep this going for about a minute, swinging back and forth. Then repeat with the other leg.
If you are after more exercises then please check out my videos:
Best of Health
Chris Pickard DC aka ‘Dr Chris’
