This video, I'm going to go over the lower back pain
muscles and how to release them for instant pain relief. Stay
tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy exercises that are going to help lengthen and more
importantly, strengthen the main muscles associated with
lower back pain. That way, we can get both quick and
long-lasting relief. A note about these exercises. Each one
is going to target a different muscle group. So, go through
them all. Use what gives you the most relief. With that
being said, let's get started. With this exercise, we're going
to focus on a muscle that causes a lot of lower back pain
off to one side. It's known as the quadratus lumborum or the
QL muscle and it works with the glutes to stabilize the pelvis
and the lower back and when this muscle becomes strained
and inflamed, it causes pains from the bottom of the ribs
into the lower back towards the top of the hips and the pelvis.
So, here's a really easy exercise that you can do. It's
a great one to do daily to help lengthen and strengthen this
muscle for both quick and long-lasting relief. What we're
going to do is go next to a staircase and step up with one
foot right at the bottom step. Doesn't matter which side
because we're going to do it on both. A couple notes about this
exercise. Let's keep our body nice and straight. So, we're
not going to try to lean away from it. Instead, we want all
movement coming through the hips, pelvis, and the back and
you can grab off to the side of a wall, railing, anything like
that for support and balance as needed. So, this is known as a
hip hiker, very straightforward. What we're
going to do with the leg and the foot that is the edge of
that step is we're going to hike that hip upward towards
the ceiling as much as we can. The more that you go up, the
more that you're going to feel muscles around the hip, the
pelvis and the lower back start to fire but really focus on
feeling it into the lower back. That will be that quadratus
lumborum muscle. So, what we're going to do is hold this one
comfortably for five seconds and then slowly lower our leg
downward towards the floor. So, go in reverse but with this
one, don't let your foot touch the floor. Just let it hover
slightly above it. You're going to feel a really good stretch
now on the other side. Again, hold this one comfortably for
about five seconds and then you're going to repeat the hip
hiker going up as far as you can and then coming back down
for about five times in both directions but if it feels like
you have a little bit more energy, you can always throw in
as many repetitions as you like and I would recommend doing
this on both sides just to keep everything imbalance. So,
here's a really easy stretch that you can do for the
quadratus lumbarum and it's great to do throughout the day
anytime that you feel pain or tightness building off to one
side. It's known as the bell arena. We can do this one
standing. So, whatever side that you're having the most
amount of pain, let's say it's your right side. You're going
to take that side's leg and put it over the other one just like
this and our toes are going to be pointed straight ahead. The
non-painful side, you're going to take that side's hand and
stabilize your hip. The other hand and arm are going to go
overhead just like this. Now, you know why we call it the
ballerina. So, pretty straight forward. What I'm going to do
is stabilize this hip and then lean away from the side of
pain. So, I'm moving through my waist through my lower back and
tilting my upper body towards the other side. Focus on
feeling a deep stretch form from the bottom of the ribs
into the lower back towards the top of the hips. That will
target the quadratus lumborum. This one usually feels really
really good. I like to hold this one comfortably for about
20 to 30 seconds and just do nice, slow, controlled
breathing also. Let out as much tension as you can. From there,
you're going to relax and then repeat this a couple more times
and with each repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more. If you would like to take this one to the
next level and get a deeper stretch. As you do this, take
the hand on the non-painful side and gently press your hips
towards the painful side. So, I'm just gently pressing my
hips my right and leaning towards my left. Slowly build
into this one because it's going to become a very deep
intense stretch very quickly. At that point, hold that for 20
to 30 seconds, release it, and then repeat it a couple more
times and I do recommend doing this on both sides just to keep
everything in balance. With this exercise, we're going to
focus on a muscle group that I think are more associated with
lower back pain than any other muscle. This would the glutes.
The glutes are a main stabilizer of the hips, pelvis,
and the lower back and when they become strained and
inflamed, they tend to cause pains below the belt line
throughout the pelvis towards the hips. They are a literal
pain in the butt. So, if you have a lot of lower back pain
and hip pain going on, give this exercise a try. To get
into position, we're going to lie flat on our back. You can
do this one in bed or on a floor. Your legs are going to
be roughly hip width apart bent, feet flat. Let's start
off by bracing our core muscles. It's kind of like if
somebody was to try to poke you in your stomach, how you tense
up, mimic that and hold it during this exercise. We also
want to squeeze the glutes to engage them. This will really
help stabilize and protect the lower back during this
exercise. Your hands can go on your hips or off to your side
for support but the movement very straight forward. What
we're going to do is just slowly raise hips upward
towards the ceiling until our body is in a nice straight line
from our knees to our hips to our shoulders I know a lot of
people won't be able to get into this position due to pain
or weakness like you can only go up just a little bit do the
best you can hopefully over time you will gain strength and
flexibility to get in this position but in this position
you should feel a ton of muscles start to fire the core
lower back glutes and the legs everything that support the
spine in the lower back. We're going to hold this one
comfortably for 5 seconds. You're going to relax and then
we're going to repeat this five to ten times and with each
repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more. If
it feels like you have a little bit more energy, you can always
throw in another set or two. To take the bridge, this exercise
to the next level. What you can do is just raise one leg up and
put all of your body weight off to one side but As you do this,
make sure that your hips are level so you're not tilting
down like this but give that a try and whatever you do on one
side, always make sure to do on the other to keep everything in
balance. So, another variation of the bridge that's going to
target the glutes just a little bit differently is called the
clam shell. This one is really good if you feel like you have
a lot of weakness or pain in the hips. So, for this one,
we're going to take our feet and press them together and
then take our knees and wing them down towards the floor as
much as we can. You should feel an initial stretch on the inner
part of your thigh going towards the groin but more
importantly on the outside of the hips. Really focus on
feeling it on the outside of the hips. Once you feel that,
we're going to do the same movements. Let's brace the
core, squeeze our glutes, put our hands right on our hips,
and then lift our hips upward towards the ceiling but again,
this time around, you should really feel it on the outside
of your hips. Hold that for 5 seconds. Repeat five to 10
times, throw in another set or two if you are able. So, since
we're already in this position, let's throw in another exercise
that's going to focus on another big stabilizer of the
hips and the lower back. These would be the hip flexors
notably the iliopsoas or the psoas muscle right here on the
top of the thigh. So, what I'd like to do with this one is
just start with one leg roughly at 90 degrees and my hip my
knee are going to be in a straight line. Just take your
hands, overlap them like this, put them right on the top of
your knee. The movement from here is very straight forward.
We're going to try to drive our knee towards our shoulder but
we're going to resist against it with our hand. So, as you
press into your hands and make sure that your hands win on
this one. You're going to feel a lot of muscles right here on
the top of your thighs start to engage. Once you feel a really
good activation of those muscles but it's not causing
any pain or discomfort, if case, back off slightly. You're
then going to hold this for five seconds and then you're
going to relax and then you're going to repeat this on the
other side but do this nice and slowly for about five to 10
repetitions on both sides but if it feels like you have a
little bit more energy, you can always throw in another set or
two. With this exercise, we're going to focus on one of the
most important muscle groups but probably the most
overlooked too when it comes to lower back pain. This would be
the erector spinae group. The erector spinae pretty much run
the whole length of your back right off to the side of your
spine and their main function is to put the back into
extension of backwards movement and when these muscles become
strained and inflamed, they pretty much cause pains
throughout the whole back but a hallmark sign is when you bend
forward and then come back upright, you get a lot of pain
especially getting up and out of a chair. So, if that's the
case, give this exercise a try. It's known as the Superman and
I'm going to show you how to progress into it starting off
easy and then working your way towards the more challenging
full Superman. You can do this one in bed. I think it's a
little bit easier to do it in bed but you can also do this
one on a floor. So, what I'm going to do to start off with
with the easiest version is to straighten my arms, have them
off to my side, have my palms facing upward towards the
ceiling. What you want to do is raise your head, shoulders, and
chest upward like this as much as you can. You should feel
really good activation of the muscles in the upper back going
down into the core. This is a really good core strengthening
exercise. You're going to hold this comfortably for about 5
seconds. You're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
this five to ten times and with each repetition, try to build
into it just a little bit more. If that becomes a little bit
too easy, what you can do is raise up like this with your
upper body but then also straighten your legs and then
lift your feet upward towards the ceiling. This around,
you're going to feel it a lot more in the hips, pelvis, and
the lower back. Again, hold that one comfortably for about
5 seconds. If that one feels like it's a little bit too
easy. To make it more challenging, take your hands,
put them on the back of your head like this and as you do
it, wing your elbows upward towards the ceiling. You're
going to feel the muscles engage even more. So, give that
one a try. So, the most challenging would be the full
Superman. So, for this movement, imagine super flying
like this with his arms out in front of him straight ahead.
So, just point your hands away from you like this. Straighten
your legs, lift your hands and feet upward towards the
ceiling. This time around, you're going to feel the
muscles in the lower back fire all the way up to the upper
back. It pretty much works the core, the back, the legs, the
whole body. Give that a five-second hold. You're going
to relax and then repeat that five to 10 times. Go through
all of those movements. Progress into it as much as you
can and if it does feel like you have a little bit more
energy, always try to throw in another set or two. If the
exercises help, please support the channel by giving this
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.