Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo. I've had a lot of people ask me about back flexion exercises
and stretches, so today what we're gonna do is we're gonna start off with the back flexion
stretches. So what I'm gonna have you do is I'm gonna have you roll over onto your back
and lie down. Alright, so the first stretch that I'm gonna have you do for back flexion
stretch is called the single knee to chest. And so what you're gonna do is you're gonna
bring your leg up. The key here is if you have some knee problems, don't pull up on
your knee like this cause that puts a lot of pressure on your knee. What I'm gonna have
you do is grab just under your thigh right here, and what you're gonna do is you're gonna
bring that knee all the way up towards your chest as far as you comfortably can. Now you
want your stretch to be tension, a lot of pressure in there, but you don't want it to
be painful because you're gonna hold this for 30 seconds. And you're gonna do it 3 times
on each side. So what I'm gonna have you do is start counting, and when you count it's
not 12345678910. Really make sure it's 30 seconds cause if you don't get that 30 seconds
in there, you're not gonna get a proper stretch. So 30 seconds, then I'm gonna have you switch
sides, and you're gonna pull that knee up to your chest. And do 30 seconds on this time,
and I'm gonna have you do it 3 times on each side. So just that simple. Make sure that
the stretch is comfortable, but that you're feeling the stretches in there. Alright, so
then the next one I'm gonna have you do, this one's called the double knee to chest. So
what you're gonna do is you're gonna bring one up, and then you're actually gonna bring
the other one up, too. The same thing, you want to pull those knees up towards your chest
and feel that stretch through your back. And what that's gonna do is that's gonna open
up that space in your vertebrae back there, so any pressure that's going on there, maybe
through the nerves and stuff, that's gonna open those spaces up. And I'm sure you can
guess, you want to hold it for 30 seconds and then do it three times each. Alright.
So the next one is a hamstring stretch. Now you always hear people say you want to stretch
out your hamstrings, but if you don't do it properly, you're not gonna get a good stretch.
So the first stretch with the hamstrings, what I'm gonna have you do is I'm gonna have
you bring your knee up to about 90 degrees right here, you don't want to pull it all
the way up, and you don't want to have it way down, you want to be about 90 degrees.
And you're gonna grab right underneath your thigh here again, and just relax that leg.
What you're gonna do is you're gonna slowly bring your leg up until you feel that stretch
behind your leg, those hamstrings and everything. Now if you can only get your knee to here,
that's ok. That's fine as long as you're feeling that stretch. Now if you can pull it all the
way up, that's great and if that's not tight enough fro you, what I'm gonna have you do
is I'm gonna have you pull your toes towards you and that will kick in those calf muscles
back there and you'll get a nice stretch. Now again, you're gonna hold that for 30 seconds
and you're gonna do it 3 times on each side. Now some people might not be able to do a
really good job holding that leg up there, their leg's gonna start shaking a little bit.
So I've got another way to stretch those hamstrings. So what you can do is you can take a belt,
if you've got a belt, you can use a leash that has a loop on it, but what you want to
do is you want to take the belt, and you're gonna straighten our your leg. Now you want
to relax your leg, and you're gonna pull up towards you. Now the key here is not to bend
your knee this time. So if you're up here but your knee is bent, that's not good. I
want you to bring it down until you can get that leg straight, and then pull it up towards
you. And the same kind of thing with the stretch, you want to pull your foot down more, that's
gonna kick in your calf and you're gonna stretch both of them. And I bet you can guess how
long to stretch it. 30 seconds, 3 times on each side. So we've got one more stretch for
ya, these stretches are easy to do, even before you get out of bed in the morning cause you're
lying down. But if you want to get on up, what you can do is you can stretch your hamstrings
while you're sitting up. Some people pull their leg in like this, some people sit on
the couch and then they'll have their leg laying down on the side. The key here is,
a lot of people go into a hamstring stretch and do this. "Gotta grab my toes, I gotta
grab my toes, this is a great stretch." Well they're not actually stretching their hamstrings
cause their back is curled. If you keep your back straight, and bend at your hips, that's
where you're gonna get the hamstring stretch cause your hamstrings are actually connected
to that pelvis there. So if I'm sitting like this and I'm just leaning this far with my
back straight, I'm getting more of a stretch here, then when I'm actually taking my hands
all the way down to my feet. Alright, so 30 seconds, 3 times on each side. There's your
stretch. Make sure you're doing both sides. Get that good stretch in there. Keeping that
back straight and stretching forward. Alright, so the next stretch we're gonna do is called
the cat stretch. So what I'm gonna have you do, you can place your hands flat down. Sometimes
this might hurt people's wrists, so you can go up on your fists if you want to to keep
that wrist straight. Now what you're gonna do is you're gonna take your chin, and you're
gonna tuck it down towards your chest. And you're gonna raise up your back just like
what a cat does when it stretches. You're going up, you're holding that stretch, you're
breathing while you're doing it. If you can't carry on a conversation while you're stretching,
then you're not doing it right. You don't want to hold your breath. So bring it up,
nice deep breath in and out, 30 second stretch. Alright. The next one I'm gonna have you do
is called the prayer stretch. And so what you're gonna do is you're gonna bring out
your arms and you're gonna roll back onto your heels and you're gonna sit down and you're
gonna bring your body all the way down. And so this is gonna be a big stretch, and what
you're gonna do if you're not feeling much of a stretch there, pull your arms forward
and hold them down and then come back. And your gonna get some shoulder stretch in there
too, that should stretch out your whole back. Make sure you keep your head down, not like
me, and just relax that body. And that's gonna be 30 seconds, 3 times. Alright. Now the last
one I have for you is called a pelvic tilt. This is one that you're probably gonna hear
a lot more because a lot of exercises that you're gonna do you wanna put your pelvis
into a tilted position, a posterior position which means "back to the ground." So what
you're basically gonna do is you're gonna imagine that you're taking your belly button
and you're pushing it down to the ground. So if you can see, my hips are actually going
down. I'm trying to flatten my back all the way down. If you put your hands underneath
you, you can feel there's a little curve in there. And what you want to do is you want
to feel yourself pushing down into your hand. Same thing, you want to still be able to breathe
while you're doing it. So you're gonna hold it. This one you don't have to hold for 30
seconds, hold it for about 3-5 seconds. Then relax and push down again. Alright, there
you have it. THose were your back flexion stretches. If you feel like they helped, please
click the "like"button and leave us a comment. If you'd like to check out some more instructional
videos, or some educational videos, please check me out at AskDoctorJo.com. So be safe,
have fun, and I hope you feel better soon!