hey everybody it's doctor jo, and i'm with my good friend and mentor trudy.
and today we're gonna do therapeutic yoga for the back. so let's get started. so i wanted you guys
to get to meet trudy. trudy is awesome, and a lot of times you guys ask me what kind of stuff i do.
well i always take trudy's online classes and check out her videos for therapeutic yoga when
i really am hurting and having some issues. and trudy is from Canada! so all you Canadian viewers,
make sure you give her a shout out in the comments. she is also a registered yoga teacher,
so she is my resident expert today. so i'm going to let her get started. hello everyone i'm trudy
from heel wellness and therapy. i do not often say how's it going, eh? but i'll say it just for you
today. all right so we're starting with low back pain and therapeutic yoga. so there's three things
that i really encourage people to do when it comes to low back pain and therapeutic yoga, and that is
to get length out of the psoas muscle. this muscle that's in the front of the hip. i know that dr jo
needs that, and to get length out of the side muscle of your low back called your quadratus
lumborum. yes, it's a big word but it's a very important muscle to stretch. and then of course
you have to do a therapeutic yoga exercise for the core. and so we'll end with that one last.
so let's get started with that psoas muscle. so did you know take your middle finger and your
thumb, that's about the size of your psoas muscle. it runs the whole front of your hip
all the way up the front of your low back. and when it is tight, it can give you some serious
low back pain. so dr jo let's get you up on a half kneeling position. we're going to start stretching
the left hip first just because it's closer to you guys at home. but if you were in a real yoga
class, we'd be starting with this right hip. all right. so here's the alignment cues you need to
get this psoas really good. number one stack the hip directly on top of the knee. look back
at your foot make sure it's running straight behind that knee. and then this front leg
knee is straight over the center of the foot. now for a lot of us with really tight psoas muscles,
we like to backward bend, so we put our rib cage behind us. so real important to relax the rib
cage. you don't like to do that. and then maybe just rest your hand here so that you can have
something to relax the rib cage into. you've got it. now here's the key with getting this
psoas muscle. it's all about a pelvic tilt. so tucking that tailbone under, really feeling that
length through the front of the hip. do we feel it Dr jo? Feel it lots right in there.
all right. now here's the thing, we want length of that muscle we're getting it with the pelvic tilt,
but we want that muscle to relax. and this is the therapeutic yoga component. so keeping that tilt,
give me a nice slow deep inhale into your belly. you've got it. and then exhale out.
let's do two more breaths, nice deep inhale in, exhaling out. keep that tuck, keep that stretch,
deep inhale in, and exhaling out. you've got it. all right let's switch legs. down
with the right leg up with the left. stacking the right hip directly on top of that knee,
looking back checking in that that foot lines up with the knee and hip. right knee straight
on top of the center of this foot. rib cage, make sure that that rib cage is relaxed and slightly
forward so that you're not shortening that muscle from the spinal component. all right here we go.
nice good tuck of that pelvis, you're looser on this side than that side. this is your bad side.
yep. keep that tailbone tucked under, keep that pelvic tilt. now give me a nice good diaphragmatic
breath. and slowly exhaling. that's. it two more breaths there deep inhaling in, keep that tuck,
exhaling out. and one more nice deep inhale in, and exhaling out. you've got it. relaxing
down onto both knees, settling yourself down. psoas muscle done, check. on to the next one.
so next muscle we need to deal with is the quadratus lumborum. now it is a key muscle
that gets really really tight with patients with low back pain because it stops the pelvis from
moving separate of the low back. so we are going to use a nice little bolster to do this exercise.
and we're going to actually be laying on our side on top of the bolster. so dr jo what i
want to make sure you do is get your entire leg bone your entire pelvis on that bolster,
and then you're going to lay down on your side. so put yourself in that position. and we will get
started. so entire pelvis on the bolster, bring yourself down onto your side, you've got it.
that's it. so there's a nice big space underneath. now let's go ahead and stack your knees on top of
one another for a second. just in this position alone, the ribcage is dropping downwards while the
pelvis is kind of blocked by this bolster. so what we're going to tackle is this muscle right here.
it attaches from the pelvis to the ribcage. so what we want dr jo to do is keep this
bottom leg on the bolster, top leg lift that leg up, give me a nice deep inhale as you kick it out,
and then as you exhale drop that leg down to the floor. do you feel it? i do. that's right.
now if we want to be a little bit more specific to that muscle, we can kind of make sure that we
rotate the ribcage forward, we can rotate it. the bottom line is can you get your heel to the floor?
can you lengthen through that leg? can you find that length in that muscle? do you have it dr
jo? i do, that ql is saying hi. all right, so now here's what i want you to do. where i am pointing,
give me a nice deep inhale. that's it, and exhaling. very nice. deep inhale into this muscle,
and exhaling. she is even getting some movement in her colon as she's doing such
good stretching of her quadratus. one more time deep inhale and exhaling. you've got it. now
take this leg bring an inhale, bring it in. now bottom elbow, top hand, exhale, push yourself
up onto that bolster, and let's do it all over on the opposite side. so as you switch, make
sure the entire pelvis and leg bone or femur are on the bolster. once you're there, kind of drop
yourself down onto that shoulder. again in this position, the rib cage is kind of shearing down,
but the pelvis is blocked. you're already creating space into that low back area, but let's find that
length specifically in that quadratus lumborum muscle. so top leg lift it up, inhale it kick
it out, and then as you exhale lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, and drop it down. do you feel it? i do.
all right. so same idea as the opposite side dr jo's got her pelvis nice and level,
but you can sometimes play with do i want to move my rib cage back a bit or rib cage, forward a
bit? she's pretty good right there. now where my finger is, let's do a nice deep inhale in,
and exhaling out. leg is long, muscle is being lengthened. one more, two more deep breaths in,
and exhaling out. and one more time right here, yes, and exhaling out. beautiful.
inhale pull that leg all the way in bottom, elbow top hand exhale as you push yourself
up. all right now stay up there on that bolster. third therapeutic exercise for back pain is
we need to get the core. specifically we want to fire these transverse abdominis muscles. so here's
what i want you to do. now i want you to scooch yourself forward on the bolster. scoot, scoot,
scoot, scooch. you got it. then allow yourself to lay down on your elbow
and do a 90 degree rotation, and voila you've got yourself on your back. pelvis is on the bolster
ready to fire that core. now go ahead and push yourself this way just,
you've got it. i'm going to come up here so that we can talk about this core as she works on these
muscles. so take your knees, bring them upwards to your chest for a second, give it a nice good hug.
now here's the great thing about back pain, doing what she's doing with this bolster right now.
you're getting nice good length, but it's an inversion. cheapest inversion. you can stick
a pillow underneath your butt and bring your knees to your chest guys, but let's get into
that core. so if we bring our knees just in front of our hips, pull those toes up, that's it. now
place those hands on those thighs. we're going to use her strong hip flexor muscles to speak
to those core muscles and get things going. so gently push your hands into your thighs, your
thighs into your hands. think about trying to lift your fingertips up to the ceiling. you've got it.
now she's getting good shaking that means we're getting that transversus abdominis muscle firing,
but let's make it a therapeutic yoga class. can you see her leg shaking?
that's what we want. deep inhales and exhales, so can we breathe into that nose
and exhale through that nose. you gotta give me one more good one, nice deep inhale in and
exhaling out. you've got it. gently bring your knees to your chest, lengthening out through
that low back. one of the best strengthening exercises we can do for our low back because
oftentimes that transverses abdominis muscle it's not even turned on. it is out like a blacklight.
all right guys. so now let's just lift the pelvis, shoot that bolster out of your way, and up we go.
you have officially done three easy exercises with therapeutic yoga. woo! how'd you do? feels
really really good. wonderful, awesome. so if you guys are interested in checking out more stuff
from trudy, make sure and check out her website healwellnessandtherapy.com or her youtube channel
which is what i am always checking out when i've got my hip pain or something going on
with my back. so there you have it. that was therapeutic yoga for back pain. if you'd like
to help support my channel, make sure and click on the link up there. and don't forget to subscribe
by clicking down there. and remember, be safe have, fun, and we hope you feel better soon.
all right one more thing. this is a therapeutic yoga class, so we have to conclude
with a well wish. so hands to the center of your heart. smile on your face. nice deep inhale in,
exhaling out, namaste. namaste. the highest in me, salutes the highest in you.