This video, I'm going to show you the best exercises to help
a stiff, achy back from having to work at home. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare
in Saint Joseph, Michigan. So, if working from home has been a
big problem on your back... maybe you're getting new aches,
pains, tightness, stiffness, you name it and you need a
quick fix, definitely check this video out. I'm going to
focus on the full back with this one but I'm going to keep
it simple and easy by breaking it up into different parts of
the back. So, we'll focus on upper, middle, lower back,
hips, pelvis. Go through all of the exercises, they all work
differently. Take what works best for you. As a bonus, all
of the exercises can done at home do not require any
equipment and make it quick back pain relief even in as
little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started and fix that agy
back right now. So, here is a wonderful exercise that's going
to help open up the full back and also help improve forward
leaning posture from sitting at the desk for too long. It's
just a good way to get up every so often, get everything
loosened up and moving. I'm going to go next to a door or a
wall. Space yourself out roughly about one arm length
away. I'm going to take my hands and then put them
overhead just like this. Use our fingers to crawl up as much
as you can until you feel a very good stretch happening
into the upper back across the shoulders. My arms are also
roughly shoulder width apart. What I'm going to do from there
is put my feet about hip width apart. I'm going to place all
the weight right on my heels. Let's tuck the chin like this
and then we're going to bend the knees and slowly lower our
body down while we grip into the door with our fingers. This
is our stability point, our anchor point so we don't want
fingers to slide with this one. Only our lower body goes down.
The more that you go down, the more intense the stretch is
going to be felt. So, once we feel a very deep stretch, what
I want to do from there is really allow my chest to sag or
go forward towards the door and this really opens up the
shoulder blades. It feels wonderful. Once we hit that
deep, comfortable stretch. Let's hold this one for about
20 seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Let
the tension out. From there, we can relax and take a breather.
Next repetition try to take the fingers up just a little bit
more and stretch more into it always challenge yourself with
each repetition to open up the joints and reduce more muscle
tightness how we can take this one to the next level is
instead of going straight forward with it let's angle our
body slightly in one direction in this case will be my left
and then I'm just going to repeat this exercise what
you'll notice is it hits the muscles a little bit
differently as I go towards the left it tends to hit the
opposite side so it really opens up that right side. So,
go all the way towards the left. Go all the way towards
the right. Experiment with different angles and if you do
notice that one hits your back just a little bit better, throw
some more repetitions in at that point. How we can take
this one to the next next level is to incorporate a little bit
more rotation into the upper back. So, let's get back into
that original position. What I'm going to do this time
around though is take one arm off, bend it at 90 degrees, and
then rotate my whole body in the opposite direction. So, I'm
taking my right arm rotating my back towards the left side.
Again, you'll notice this opens up the back just a little bit
differently. Go over as far as you can. Hold this one for
about 15 to 20 seconds. From there, you're just going to
relax, take a breather, and then repeat this on the other
side but do this one nice and slowly for about five complete
repetitions and I hope that this really just allows you to
get through the day with less issues. Here's one of my
personal favorite ways to quickly relieve a lot of back
tightness and stiffness from sitting at a desk for too long
This one is known as a figure eight. Let's scoot right to the
edge of a chair. Have very good upright posture. We're going to
take our hands, place them on the back of the head just like
this. What I'm going to do just like the name implies, I'm
going to use the tips of my elbows right here to trace a
figure eight but we're going to go through some certain motions
to help open up and unlock the upper to middle back. So, as
we're tracing the upper part of the eight, we're going to go
into extension. So, we're really trying to drive our back
backwards like this. You should really feel it activated
between the shoulder blades while doing this and as we
trace the lower part of the eight we're going to go into
flexion or a forward motion so again you should feel the back
open up just in a little bit of a different way let's start
right in the middle of the eight what I'm going to do is
just swing up in any direction and start to put my back into
extension until I get to the top part of the eight once we
get to the top part of the eight what we want to really do
is really drive our upper back backwards really activated in
between the shoulder blades and put the back into extension
this should feel it's really opening up. From there, I'm
just going to slowly start to swing down til we get back down
to the middle point of the eight. From there, I'm just
going to slowly lean forward until I get to the bottom part
of the eight. I'm going to lean forward as much as I can and I
kind of pull forward with my hands with this one too to help
traction it open just a little bit and then I just start to
swing back up until I get to the middle part and then I just
simply repeat this one for a complete cycle. This should
roughly take you about five seconds to do a one complete
cycle or repetition but with each repetition, you want to
stretch into it just a little bit more. Always challenge
those muscles and you want to do this for about three to five
times. Once you've done that, switch to the opposite
direction. So, if you've been going like this, go in the
opposite direction and just hit the muscles a little bit
differently and repeat this one for three to five times. If you
do notice that one certain movement like let's say when I
do this, the bottom part of the eight, I really feel it X over
a tight achy spot of my middle back. What I'm going to do is
just slowly work through that throwing more repetitions in
until I feel like it's loosening up and then I just
slowly start to continue that eight. It's just a good way to
put a lot of good motion into the back itself, target achy
spots, and hopefully have a lot less issues throughout the day.
So, here's an exercise that will literally tackle a pain in
the butt from sitting too long. It's known as a seated figure
four or if you're into yoga, a seated pigeon pose. What I'm do
is start at the edge of a chair have very good upright posture
we're going to bring one leg up over the other just like this
rest the ankle over the knee on the bottom so when you look
down it should look like a figure four starting to form
with your legs it's a three-part movement and it's
very easy to do the first movement I'm going to take my
hands place them off to the side of the hips we're just
going to lean forward we're going to pivot through our hips
and our waist with our upper body we're not trying to round
the back with this one but just gently and slowly leaning
forward to the hips. When you do this, you're going to feel a
very good stretch happening to the hips, pelvis, glute
buttocks, legs, lower back, pretty much the whole side that
is on top. So, in this case, it's my right side. We want to
hold this one for a deep, comfortable stretch for about
20 seconds. From there, you're just going to come back up,
take a breather, and then you're going to repeat this
three to five times. With each repetition, try to stretch into
it just a little bit more to target those muscles. In the
second movement, we're going to add a little bit of a twisting
motion in there too targeted and hopefully relieve a little
bit more tightness into those muscles so let's pivot forward
again but this time around I'm going to take my hands place
them off to my shoulders just like this and then and then I'm
going to turn in the opposite direction when you do this
you'll just notice that the muscles get hit just a little
bit differently again go for a very deep stretch hold this one
for about 20 seconds relax and then repeat it on the other
side you want to do this in both directions for 3 to 5
repetitions The last movement, we're going to do a lateral
lean. So, let's start with very good upright posture and what
I'm going to do is put my hands on my hips and then just tilt
my body in the other direction. So, I'm leaning towards my
left. What this will do is target more off to the side of
the lower back down into the hip. It really hits a muscle
called the quadratus lumborum or the QL muscle which is a big
instigator of back pain. Let's hold this one for 20 seconds.
Come back up and then just repeat it on the other side for
three to five repetitions on both sides. And when you're
done on one side for good measure, always switch to the
other to keep them both imbalance. With this exercise,
we're going to focus more into the pelvis and into the SI or
sacroiliac joints. If you have more pain across the belt line,
a little bit below and off to the side, check this one out.
Very easy to do. We're going to start seated with very good
upright posture. My legs are going to be roughly hip width
apart. I'm going to take my hands, place them on the
outside of the knees. The movement is taking the knees
outwards while resisting against with our hands. This
ends up becoming an isometric exercise. That is kind of like
exercising without using too much movement. The more that we
push out and resist, the more that you're going to feel it
activate into the pelvis, into the SI joint. So, really
kind of focus on feeling it a little bit below the belt line
off to the side. You want to hold this one for a
comfortable, deep stretch for about five seconds. From there,
you're just going to relax, take a breather, and then
repeat this for five times. In the second part, this one is
neat one I'm going to make fist like this put them together and
then place them on the inside of the knees this time around
we're going to drive inwards but our hands are going to
resist against it and I don't know if you heard it over the
microphone but I got a very good release into this right SI
joints it's very common to get a click pop snap crack whatever
you want to call it into the SI joint with this because it puts
a lot of good motion into those sacroiliac joints so don't be
alarmed if that happens but you want to just hold this one
comfortably for about five seconds relax and then do this
for five repetitions. It's just an easy way to really help open
up the pelvis and SI joints pretty much anywhere. With this
exercise, we're going to focus on tight, achy leg muscles from
sitting too long. I really like this one because not only is it
so easy to do but it's going to work the front and the back of
the legs at the same time. We just need one of two things, a
doorknob or a sturdy chair. You could probably also use the
edge of a desk or table for this one too. Let's start
standing with very good upright posture. Whatever side is
closest to that chair or the doorknob, we're just going to
grab off to it like this for stability point. We want that
side to be kept straight. So, in this case, it's my left
side. We're not going to bend the knee. We're going to keep
that leg straight during this exercise. We're going to bend
the other side's knee though. What I'm going to do is just
grab at it like this and grab right in the front of the
ankle. You can also grab the back of the pant leg if that's
a little bit easier but let's have very good upright posture
again to start off with. In this position, you should
already to feel a very comfortable stretch into the
front of the bent side's knee so in this case it's really
stretching my right quadricep and hip flexor from there I'm
going to intensify the stretch by trying to bring the leg back
as much as I can and it's really firing right now it
feels really good what we're going to do to take this
stretch to the next level is then pivot forward from our
hips and from our waist so we're not trying to round our
back forward we're pivoting forward from our waist while
stay stabilizing this movement with the chair. When you do
this, you're going to feel a very deep stretch happen into
the side that is kept straight. So, my left side, I'm really
feeling it into my hamstring or the back of the leg. So, again,
you'll feel it into the front of the leg with the bent side
and then, you're going to feel it on the back side of the leg
with the straight leg but hold this position for about 15 to
20 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax, take a
breather, and then try to repeat this three to five times
with each repetition, try to stretch a little bit more into
it to always challenge those muscles and when you're done on
one side, always switch to the other to keep them both in
balance. If the exercises help, please support the channel by
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have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.