Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody is Doctor Jo and sleepy Kali.
And today I'm gonna show you stretches and exercises for
spinal stenosis. So let's get started. So spinal stenosis is
basically the narrowing of the spaces between the two
vertebrae. And so when those spaces narrow, they end up
putting pressure on the nerves. This can happen a lot of times
in the neck and the lower back. And so we're going to show
stretches for the lower back today. So with spinal stenosis,
you want to kind of open up those spaces that takes the
pressure off of those nerves. And so a really nice one to do
is a pelvic tilt. But we're gonna do it seated today. You
might have seen some of my pelvic tilt exercises lying
down. With the seated pelvic tilts, if you have a hard time
figuring out a little bit, you can grab a towel and roll it up,
so you can kind of sit on it. So it helps you kind of rotate back
and forth. So if you need to grab a towel, go ahead and pause
real quick and grab that towel, and then get it rolled up like
this. So once you get the towel rolled up, all your gonna do is
just kind of sit on it, kind of where your sit bones are back
there, those ischial tuberosity. And so what that does, is it's
not going to be a lot, I mean, you're not going to feel it a
whole lot unless you get a big thick towel. But that's going to
help you kind of roll back and forth over the towel. You don't
have to use a towel, but I find a lot of times people have a
little bit of difficulty figuring this out. And so that
little bit of a rolled up towel helps. So with the pelvic tilt
you're basically just tilting the pelvis back and forth. So
you might not see a lot of movement here. But I'm almost
like slouching down a little bit to roll back into that tilt. And
then I'm coming up and over that towel to get the tilt the other
way. So I'm just kind of rolling back and forth. And what that
does is that's opening up the space in between the spine. When
I come back this way into that tilt, it's taking that spine and
opening up those spaces this way. And so really just
loosening up the lower part of your back back there, and that
lower spine area. So you can go continuously like this, or you
can stop, hold it for a little bit, maybe 10 to 15 seconds, and
then come back and roll back over it and get that stretch. It
shouldn't be super painful. It shouldn't be reproducing a lot
of symptoms. So if you want to go a little bit less to start
off with until you figure it out. And then the more you do,
you should feel a nice stretch in there. That's really what you
should be feeling. So then the next one is just going to be a
seated, roll down. And so with these roll downs what's really
nice is it just kind of opens up each segment of your spine as
you go. So if you've seen some of my stretches before, like
hamstring stretches, I say keep your back straight, there's
gonna be a stretch at the end where I say keep your back
straight. This one, you actually are curling your back, you're
rolling it. So you're opening up those spaces, just kind of
placing your hands in front of you between your feet, and just
roll down as far as you comfortably can. And so you can
touch the ground, if you're comfortable doing that. You can
go on the outside, so you can roll a little bit more, but
you're really rolling that spine, and then just holding it
for, you know, maybe 10 to 15 seconds, and then gently roll
back up. And so again, this was a nice one just to really open
up those spaces. So rolling down,
holding the and then rolling back up. So you can do that, you
know, five to 10 times however much is comfortable. And again,
if you can't go all the way down, that's okay. If you can
only go to about here before you're like, "Oh, I'm really
feeling that," you can hold right there. You know, just roll
down as far as you comfortably can. But really trying to open
up those spaces while you're doing it. So the next one is
just going to be a trunk rotation while you're seated.
It's kind of how it sounds, you're rotating your trunk.
Again, this is going to be to kind of when you rotate, you're
opening up those spaces on the opposite side. And so that's how
you're just kind of taking that pressure off of those nerves and
you're loosening up those muscles, so they're not always
so tight, putting more pressure on there. So with a trunk
rotation, I like to just when I'm sitting, I'll take my
opposite hand to the to the opposite knee there, and then
just kind of turn a little bit until I get that stretch. Again,
just going as far as you comfortably can. So if this is
too much for you, you know, if you just want to go right here
until you feel that stretch. That's where you can go. This
one if you want to hold for a full 30 second stretch, you can.
If you want to follow along with me in real time, where I'm doing
all the stretches and exercises and you're just following along,
you can check on the link up there for all my real time
videos. And then make sure you're switching sides. So hand
here and just rotating over getting that nice stretch in
there. Try and keep your upper body upright so you're not kind
of you're not crunching down for this one. You're staying up nice
and tall. And then again holding that for about 30 seconds. Doing
that three times on each side. So the next one is going to be a
seated hip flexor stretch. This is a little bit harder to get
into. If you're in a chair, or the edge of maybe your bed or
the couch or something, you can do that there. But sometimes
with a chair, it's just a little bit easier, because you can move
your legs like up and over the chair, well, you can do it on
the side, I'm gonna show you here, you're just going to turn.
So the side, this outside, where you're going to put your knee
down is going to be the side that you're stretching. So we're
going to stretch our hip flexors right here, our hip flexors come
and attach to the spine up here. So you want those nice and
loose. If they're tight, they're pulling down on everything and
compressing that spine, and making it press on those nerves,
which is what causes us problems. So you want this area
to be nice and loose. So I'm just turning, my bottom is still
on the bed or the couch or the chair. So I'm supported. So I
don't really have any pressure on my knee. It might be slightly
touching the ground. But like in a traditional lunge stretch
where all the pressures on your knee, this is a great way to
modify it. So you're not getting all that pressure, or you're not
getting down on the floor, if you had a hard time getting off
the floor. You can keep your toes propped up so your knee
stays pretty much completely off of the floor. Or if you want to
bring it down that way you can. You might get a little bit more
of a stretch, if your toes are up, I'm gonna actually lean a
little bit forward to bring my ribcage over my body here, just
kind of placing my hands like this. But the key to get the hip
flexor stretch is to go into that pelvic tilt. So if you can
see I'm rotating where I'm getting it back this way,
because this muscle is connected the spine. If I'm rotating back,
even without leaning forward a little bit, I'm getting a really
good stretch in my hip flexor right here. So you're not
leaning forward, you're just shifting your body here, and
then go into that big pelvic tilt, and you're getting that
nice stretch. So just holding that for 30 seconds. Again,
switching sides, bringing that foot back. A little bit forward,
shifting that ribcage, and then going into that till the pelvic
tilt is going to be the big thing. That's where you're going
to feel it. And I'm feeling a nice stretch through there. So
30 seconds, three times on each side. And then you're going to
do a glute stretch or a figure four stretch, stretching the
glues, the piriformis. Because again, these muscles back here,
if they're tight, they're pulling on everything and
compressing everything even more. So with the glute stretch,
or the figure four stretch, you're gonna bring your foot up
in over of the side that you want to stretch. And if you look
down, it kind of looks like a figure four. That's why we call
it a figure four. Now I know sometimes especially if you're
really tight or have a lot of pain, bringing your foot up over
your knee might be really difficult to do. So slide your
foot out. And then you can put the ankle below the knee. And
sometimes that will be a little bit more doable for you. Or if
you still have your towel, you can kind of go like this. And
then just help hold it up a little bit wherever it's
comfortable. And then you can still be in that position and
get that stretch that you need. You might even be feeling a
stretch in that glute area just with that. But if you can come
up this way, that's what you want to do.
Now you're keeping your back straight, like I'd mentioned
earlier, and just moving forward at your hips. So I'm just right
here and I'm feeling a big stretch in the glute piriformis
area right there. Now, I also see a lot of people who curl
down go, "I'm not feeling any stretch." But you see, when I
curl my back, then my hips go back and I'm not getting that
stretch. So make sure you try and keep your back as nice and
straight as you can and lean forward at your hips. Holding
that for 30 seconds. I like to alternate. You don't have to
alternate. If you want to do them all on one side, and then
switch and do them on the other side. You can. But I like giving
each side a little bit of a break. And again, keeping those
the keeping the your backup right and then bring your whole
body forward at your hips and holding that stretch for 30
seconds. So there you have it. Those were stretches and
exercises for spinal stenosis. If you'd like to help support my
channel, click on the link up there. And don't forget to
subscribe. Where Kookie? Yeah, down there. And remember, be
safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.