In this video, I'm going to go over easy back strengthening
exercises for seniors and beginners. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy, straightforward back strengthening exercises that
you can do in bed or standing. Each one of these exercises are
going to focus on targeting a different muscle group commonly
associated with back pain. To get the best result, go through
them all. Use any movement that you feel is more challenging
addressing weakness or giving you more pain relief. As a
bonus, all of these exercise are not going to require any
special equipment. So, with that being said, let's get
started. So, here's one of the most back-friendly
strengthening exercises, the bridge but I'm going to show
you how to take it to the next level and throw in some
variations to target a lot of muscle groups including
focusing on strengthening the full back. This one can be done
in bed or on a floor and it's going to target more of the
posterior chain that is your back side. So, think legs,
glutes, and lower back. Let's start lying flat on our back. My
legs are going to be roughly hip width apar,t knees bent, feet
flat. Let's take our hands put them on our hips let's tighten
the core muscles and then squeeze our glutes from there
I'm going to slowly raise my hips upward towards the ceiling
until my body is in a nice straight line from my knees to
my hips to my shoulders if you're unable to get into this
position let's say you can only go up an inch or two do the
best you can over time you should gain strength and
flexibility to get into this position You're going to feel a
ton of muscles firing. Core, lower back, the glutes, and the
legs. Hold this one comfortably for 5 seconds. From there,
you're just going to relax and then repeat this one up to 10
times. If you feel like you have a little bit more energy,
you can throw in another set or two. To make this more
challenging, balance on one leg while you do it. So, just lift
one leg up like this but make sure to keep both hips balance.
If you feel like one is tilting down, really try to bring that
one up. It's all about building strength and balance across the
back and the hips but whatever you do on one side, always do
on the other side to keep them in balance. So, let's go over a
couple different variations that are going to target the
back and the hips and the legs a little bit differently. I
like to do what is called the clamshell bridge. So, with this
one, we're going to put our feet together and then, we're
going to take our knees outward as much as we can. Go out and
you really feel a very good stretch forming on the inner
part of the leg right here into the groin and you should also
start to feel the hips opening up the movement from there is
very similar we're just going to lift our hips upward you'll
just notice that it hits the muscles a little bit
differently so give that one a try if you feel like it's more
challenging or you have a little bit more weakness this
is a position that I would really focus on a little bit
more you can also target the back of the legs with a
hamstring bridge so this one is very similar to the first movement but
we're going to point our toes upward towards the ceiling take
our heels drive them down into the bed or the floor and then
just lift up really focus on feeling it into the glutes
right here but also into the back of the legs this one
actually feels really really good but again with all of
these movements five second holds try to do them for 10
repetitions if you really want to make this one more
challenging you can do a walk out with it so I'm in my
hamstring bridge position and now I'm going to slowly walk
heels out like this and you'll really feel those hammies start
to fire. So, give that one a try. Again, if you feel like
you have a lot of weakness, really focus on that just a
little bit more. So, we can take this one to even the next
level by then putting in a motion that will target the
full back. So, I'm going to get back into my original bridge
position. I'm going to take my arms, bend them at 90 degrees
at the elbow, put them off to my side, and then drive my
elbows into the bed or the floor. The goal is to press
down with your arms and then lift your chest forward upward
towards the ceiling while pinching your shoulder blades
at the same time. You're going to feel a ton of muscles firing
in the middle and upper back. I pretty much feel my whole body
getting a workout right now but challenge yourself right here
to drive upward as much as you can. Hold this for 5 seconds.
You're going to relax and then you're just going to repeat
this up to 10 times. Again, if you feel like you have a little
bit more energy, you can throw in another set or two. So,
building off the full body bridge, here's a variation that you can
do standing throughout the day we just need to go next to a
door or a wall this is known as the shoulder blade lift off
it's great for strengthening the upper back and also helping
to improve posture I'm going to angle my body by putting my
feet in front of me roughly about a foot foot and a half my
legs are going to be put together knees are going to be
straight let's press back into the door or the wall with our
leg strength you want your whole back side flush against
it from your bottom all the way to your upper back and head. From
there, the movement is going to be very similar. I'm going to
take my elbows, put them at 90 degrees, put them off to my
side. Again, what we're trying to do is drive our arms into
the door and then lift our chest forward while pinching
our shoulder blades at the same time. You'll feel a ton of
muscles firing into the chest and also into the upper back. I
try to hold this one for 5 seconds. I'm going to relax and
then I'm going to repeat this 110 to 15 times. If you feel
like you have a little bit more energy, throw in another set or
two and if you want to make this one more challenging, just
space your feet further away from that door. So, leading
cause of back injury actually comes from the front, a weak
core. So, I want to go over two different exercises that will
help strengthen it and build more spinal stability. This
first one is known as a dead bug. It's the easier of the
two. I would start with this one and then move on to the
second one when you feel ready. So, let's start by lying flat on
our back in bed or on a floor. I'm going to take my legs up
like this, knees bent roughly at 90 degrees. Legs are also
roughly hip with apart. I'm going to straighten my arms,
point my fingers up towards the ceiling. Let's start with the
easier movements of the dead bug and then progress into the
more challenging ones as you feel ready. So, the first
movement, I'm just going to lower one arm downward like
this but I'm not going to let the backside of my arm touch
the floor or the bed. When I do this exercise two, I like to
brace or tighten my core for a little bit more support because
that's what we really want to focus on but you want to hold
this one comfortably for about five seconds and with all of
these movements, I'm going to hold them for five seconds and
then I'm just going to come back up like this and then I'm
going to repeat it on the other side. You want to try to do
this one nice and slowly for about 10 to 15 repetitions on
both sides and you can always throw in another set or two if
you would like. If you find that this is a little bit too
easy, you can then progress into using the legs instead.
So, I'm just going to straighten one leg down like
this. The key is try to straighten your leg at the knee
as much as you can but don't let the calf or the heel touch
the floor or the bed. Just let it hover. You're going to feel
those core muscles really start to activate. So, again,
five-second hold. I'm just going to come back up like this
and then repeat on the other side. From there, if you would
like to progress into the full dead bug, it's combining those
two movements but what I'm going to do is lower one leg
down and then the opposite side's arm and you'll feel a
ton of muscles start to fire again and then you're just
going to do that on both sides. To take this one to even the
next level, we can focus a little bit more on the glutes
and the hips to build more strength and support for the
back. So, when I lower one leg down, what I'm going to do is
turn my foot inward like this and then move my leg inward we
call this one the 3D dead bug you're going to feel a ton of
muscles fire across the pelvis the hip and the lower back so
give that one a try again a five second hold you're just
going to relax and then on the next repetition what you're
going to do is turn the foot outward as much as you can and
then bring the leg out again you'll just notice that the
muscles get hit a little bit differently but try to do that
on both sides for about 10 to 15 repetitions if you are able
to so if that becomes too easy let's build into what is known
as the bird dog. It's very similar but this time around,
we're going to be on all fours and this one will be a little
bit more challenging because we really have to focus on
maintaining balance while doing it. So, with this one, what I'm
going to start off doing is just raising one arm out like
this and holding it for five seconds and then doing it on
the other side. You'll probably notice it's pretty easy. So,
what you can do instead is use your legs. So, the key with
this is I try to keep the top part of my foot flat on the bed
of the floor and then reach out with my toes as much as I can
until I feel a really good activation of the muscles in
the calves working upward towards the back of the leg
into the hamstring and the glute. Once I feel that, I'm
going to then raise my leg up very very slowly until it's
pointing straight away from me. You're going to want to again
brace the core muscles for a little bit more support but you're
going to feel a lot of muscles firing and with this one too,
you may notice that your body starts to sway or one hip
starts to go down. Really try to focus on keeping this stable
in your hips level. Five-second hold, we're going to relax and
then we're just going to do it on the other side. I try to do
this one again, 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides and
you can throw in another set or two. To go into the full bird
dog, what I'm going to do is lift one leg up and then the up
sides arm and this one can become very challenging if you
have a lot of muscle weakness. So, give that one a try and try
to progress into it as much as you can. Always focus on
challenging those muscles to build more strength. So, with
this exercise, I want to focus on strengthening two muscles
that are commonly overlooked when it comes to back pain.
That is the psoas muscle right here in the front part of the
leg, a hip flexor and also the quadratus lumborum or the QL
muscle. For this one, we can do next to a staircase or you can
a sturdy chair, one without wheels. This first movement is
called the hip hiker. It's going to target the QL, the
quadratus lumbar. To do, I'm going to stand with very good
upright posture. So, grab right here at the top of a chair or
you can grab right off to the side of a wall. I'm going to
pretty much keep my legs straight and then lift one hip
upward up towards the ceiling as much as we can. We don't
want to round the back with this one. We want to keep
everything straight, really focus on lifting this whole
side upward as much as you can. When you do this, you're going
to feel a ton start to fire off to the side right here into the
lower back. It usually feels pretty good also. I try to hold
this one for about 5 seconds. I'm just going to relax and
then repeat this 110 to 15 times. If you feel like you
have a little bit more energy, definitely throw in another set
or two. If you want to take this one to the next level, go
next to a staircase and then step up on it just like this
and let that leg hover off to the side. The movement is very
similar. We're going to lift up with one side as much as we
can. Hold that for five seconds but this time around, what
we're going to do is slowly lower that heel downward
towards the floor not letting it touch. You'll notice that
the muscles on the other side get hit just a little bit
differently. So, give that one a try. This is something that
you can pretty much do daily every time that you go up and
down the stairs but whatever you do on one side, always make
sure to do on the other side. So, moving on to the second
part of this exercise, we're going to focus more on the
psoas and the hip flexors. Again, you can use your chair
or a staircase. I do recommend doing this one next to a wall.
That way you can use it for support if you do have balance
issues. Let's get into position. I'm going to bring
one leg up and put my foot on that chair or that staircase.
The other leg is just going to go straight behind me at the
knee. Let's tighten the core, have very good upright posture.
We want to make sure to keep the back straight as possible
during this exercise. So, the movement pretty simple. What we
want to do is drive this knee above our hip to engage those
hip flexors so take this knee drive it upward towards the
ceiling as much as you can until you really start to feel
those muscles in the front part of the leg start to fire hold
this one comfortably for about five seconds just relax and
then repeat this one10 to 15 times with each repetition
challenge yourself drive that knee up even further I like to
do this one on both sides for 10 to 15 repetitions to keep
them in balance. If the exercises helped, please support the
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