- Do you have lower back pain?
Are you experiencing tightness
or stiffness in your lower back?
Today we're gonna give you a plan to address those symptoms.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Daniel Giordano, doctor of physical therapy.
About 80% of people experience low back pain.
And about half of those people spend most
of their day sitting.
Back pain can also result
from overstress, overuse, poor form
during exercise being overweight
stress or other medical conditions.
Today, we're gonna address those symptoms
and give you a plan.
So we're gonna use a foam roller first to just work
on the soft tissue.
We wanna increase blood flow circulation
and really just soften that tissue around your back.
So the first one we're gonna do is we're gonna
get the glute.
So Cameron's gonna slightly lean
his weight into the right side.
Okay, that's where we're gonna work that right glute first.
Yes, we're gonna do these on both sides
but today we're gonna start with the right glute.
So he's just gonna go up and down very slowly.
Okay.
Really working any
of those restrictions that you feel any pain that you feel
if you do feel pain in that area, when you're on the glute
do not stay on it, move side to side
get on it and off it just to increase blood flow
and just start to relax the tissue a little bit.
Okay, and you can see here
Cameron's going side to side as well.
You don't want to just go up
and down because you want to hit the fascia as well.
We want to make sure that we're hitting all angles.
So we're gonna go side to side just to loosen up some
of that tissue and just soften that tissue around the area.
Now we're gonna transition to the quad
and we're gonna work the soft tissue for the quad.
Come over onto your stomach.
And we're gonna place that foam roller
right underneath that quad muscle.
Okay, the front of that thigh there.
Okay.
One of the things that we wanna make sure
that we're doing is we're going all the way to the top
of the hip bone, because there's a muscle there
called the TFL muscle, the tensor fasciae latae muscle.
And we want to make sure because it is a hip flexor
that if it gets a little soft do a little work on the tissue
just to mobilize it a little more, get more blood flow
more circulation back to the area.
Just like the glute we're gonna make sure we go side to side
not just up and down.
So we want to get any restrictions associated
with that area and make sure that that tissue is very soft.
Because like we spoke about earlier
if you're having some tightness
in your quads or your hip flexors
it could cause some compensation in that lumbar spine.
So you want to make sure
that he's going up and down side to side
and just soften that tissue around that area
and increase the blood flow and circulation.
So after the soft tissue work
we're gonna work on mobility of the joint.
We wanna make sure that the joint is fully moving
through its proper range of motion
so that there's not excessive load on the lower back.
Cameron here is gonna start with a lumbar windshield.
What we're gonna do is come into the bridge position
lying flat on the ground.
His knees are gonna be shoulder width
but his feet we're gonna make him put a little wider.
Okay? Just so that we get the full range of motion.
And then Cameron's gonna start just
dropping his knees side to side.
So a key with the lumbar windshield is
that if you feel a restriction, let's say here
and that's all you can go, that's fine.
Be consistent with the movement.
The more that you do movement, the more this will improve.
Just go to your end range
but do not go into pain on these movements.
So Cameron's gonna go side to side, maybe about eight times
on each side, just to increase that mobility
and just to take some pressure off that area.
So the next mobility exercise we're gonna do is a cat cow.
So we wanna make sure
that the spine is moving properly and safely.
Cameron's gonna demonstrate that cat cow,
hips are gonna be stacked over the knee,
shoulder stacked over the wrist,
head in that neutral position.
Okay, what he is gonna do is
he is gonna lift his stomach all the way
up with that cat tucking the head underneath
just making sure that there's movement going
through that spine top to bottom.
And then he's gonna come down
go into that extension phase, looking straight up.
So this is just for the movement of the spine.
We wanna make sure
that that spine is staying mobile and moving properly.
So we're gonna go through a bunch of these just up and down
make sure that those hips are stacked over those knees
shoulders stacked over the wrists.
Your head is moving with your spine tucking under
so that there's no pressure
or excessive force in certain areas.
And then coming back up.
Recommend doing those about eight times or so,
just to increase the mobility
of the spine and make sure everything's moving properly.
So the last part of this fix is the stabilization.
So we worked the soft tissue, we got this tissue mobilized.
We moved the joints through the full range of motion.
Now we're gonna stabilize the tissue
so that everything is strong, compressed
and there's no pressure on your lower back.
Okay?
So the first thing we're gonna do is a core activation.
So we're gonna come into a plank position.
Okay, this is a modified plank position.
So Cameron's on his knees,
he's got his core tight, slightly lifted to that position.
So the core is staying neutral, slight tuck
tiny bit right there.
Just so you activate the glutes.
Cameron is gonna put his head down slightly to
get that neutral spine and then just really focus
on the chest away from the ground slightly and then
keep the stomach pushed a little bit away from the ground
to get that core activation.
With these planks
I recommend starting with about a 15 second hold
and moving to about a 30 second
and once you can progress from there, move to 45.
What we want to do is really isometrically contract
that core position
so the body understands that movement and stable position.
What we can do from this position is go into a full plank.
So you're gonna lift the knees
off the ground, tighten your quads
make sure you do not keep your quads loose.
We don't wanna see a bend
in the knee tighten that glute, really tighten that glute.
Lift the stomach slightly away from the ground
push through your elbows
lifting the chest away from the ground as well.
So you get a full stabilization
from head to toe push through your heels
so you're coming back
and keeping that core as stable as possible.
Same thing.
What we're gonna do is work on the compression forces.
So if we're stable in that isometric position
your core can be able to withstand any forces
around it as you move or sit during the course of your day.
So the last part of our fix is gonna be hip activation.
We worked soft tissue,
we mobilized, we stabilized the core and now
we're gonna stabilize those hip to keep that pelvis solid
so there's less pressure on the lower back.
What Cameron's gonna do today
is show us a banded bridge.
So we're gonna put that band on right below the kneecaps
get your feet about shoulder width apart
so that there's force of pressure out here on the band.
So the band is taught, it's not loose.
Okay?
Cameron's gonna focus on pushing
through the heels and lifting the butt in the air.
When we lift into this bridge
it's important that we don't high hyper extend the back
meaning coming up too high
we don't want to have excessive range of motion there.
We wanna stop so that there's a straight line from the knee,
the hip to the shoulder, keeping the core tight.
Once you feel that,
come drop your butt back down and repeat.
We'll do about 8 to 10 of these pushing through your heels.
So you're activating the glutes, getting those
hips activated the core activated as well through here.
So it's stabilizing taking pressure off of your back.
That was our fix for low back pain.
Make sure you're consistent with these.
Spend 20 minutes of your day going through this routine.
Those 20 minutes will help with your body awareness,
your movement quality and help decrease that pain.
So that relieves your pain long term.