In this video, we're going to go over the best standing lower
back pain relief exercises. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
some standing stretching exercises that may give instant
lower back pain relief, even in as little as 30 seconds. All of
these exercises, they work just a little bit differently.
They're going to target different muscle groups. To get
the best results, go through them all, take what works best
for you. As a bonus, all of these exercises can be done at
home, possibly at work and require no special equipment.
So, let's get started and fix that lower back pain right now.
So, let's start with a very easy exercise that you can
pretty much do anywhere and requires no equipment. This one
is especially good for pain off to one side, but I do recommend
doing it on both sides to keep them in balance. Start with
very good upright posture. Whatever side that you're
having pain, let's say it's my right side. I'm going to take
that side's leg, put it over the other just like this. The
toe should be pointing straight ahead. Take the hand on the
non-painful side, place it on the hip. I'm going to take the
other arm, bend elbow at 90 degrees, put it overhead just
like this. For obvious reasons, we call this one the ballerina.
The movement very easy. I'm going to drive my hip over
towards the painful side by pressing into it while leaning
towards the non-painful side with my upper back just like
this. When you do this, what's going to happen is you're going
to have a very deep stretch off to the painful side. This
targets a muscle called the quadratus lumborum or QL
muscle, a big instigator of pain. You'll pretty much feel
it from the rib going all the way down into the lower back
into the hip. Go towards a deep, comfortable stretch, hold
this one right here for 20 to 30 seconds. From there, relax,
take a breather, and then repeat this one three to five
times and with each repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more and again, I would recommend doing this on
both sides. This is what I call Dr. Rowe's break time back
stretch. It's one that I do here at the office on a daily
basis when I have a couple of free minutes. I really like
one, it's three different movements that are going to
pretty much target everything in and around the lower back.
We just need a door frame. Let's go next to the door
frame, put our toes flush against it. Take your hands,
cross them over, grip into the door frame roughly at head
level. Really grip into the door frame too. We don't
want to let them slip back like this. Let's tuck our chin
towards our chest and what I'm going to do is just allow my
body to sag away from the door. Kinda like taking the butt away
from the door frame towards the floor. The more that you go
down, the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch
throughout the back, really focus on feeling it into the
lower back. Just relax into this one. Do nice, slow control
breathing and hold it for about 20 to 30 seconds. The second
movement, we're going to come back like this, take our hands,
place them on our hips, drive our hips and stomach towards
the door frame for another stable anchor point. So, we
don't want to lift off like this. Instead, we're going to
lift our upper back and shoulders away from the door
frame while pressing our hips into it. This the back into
extension right here and is known as a door cobra. It
really helps take pressure off of lumbar spinal discs. Relax
into this one. Really kind of take your head backwards into
extension two to intensify that stretch. I hold this one for 20
to 30 seconds. From there, I'm just going to relax, take a
breather, and then repeat this whole cycle for three to five
repetitions and with each repetition, just try to stretch
into it a little bit more. Really challenge those muscles.
This is how can take it to the next level. Put your feet
together slightly away from the door frame. Take one hand,
place it on the hip, and then drive the hip closest to the
door frame into it for another stable anchor point so we don't
want to lift off like this. We're going to press into it,
put our arm at 90 degrees at the elbow like this, hand goes
overhead. We're going to lean our whole upper body away from
the door frame while pressing into it with our hip. This
creates a deep stretch off to the side. You'll feel it from
the ribs into the lower back into the hips. Hold this one
for 20 to 30 seconds, relax, and then repeat this for three
repetitions and then when you're done on one side, switch
to the other to keep them both imbalance. This exercise is
known as the 3D hip flexor. It is a personal favorite of mine
because it's going to target a lot of muscles in a short
amount of time. This one is especially good if you have
lower back pain but also have pain in the front part of the
leg even towards the groin. What I'm going to do is use
something sturdy and elevate a folding chair works well you
can use a staircase just make sure it doesn't have wheels and
it is sturdy so let's bend one knee put it up on the chair
like this at 90° the other leg is going to be kept straight
and put it behind you the more that you put the straight leg
behind you the harder this exercise will be so let's start
with very good standing upright posture take your hands put
them right on the hips I'm going to lunge forward with my
body weight as much as we can the more that you go forward
the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch in the
front part of the that is backwards so the straight leg
so let's go towards a deep comfortable stretch hold this
one right here for about 20 to 30 seconds. Do nice, slow control
breathing also. Try to relax into this stretch. From there,
just come back like this and take a breather. You want to do
this one for about three to 5 repetitions and really just try
to stretch into it just a little bit more with each
repetition, challenge those muscles. This is how we can take
it to the next level. Let's incorporate some dynamic
movement in there, so I'm going to go back into that
stretch but this time around, I'm going to put my arms in
front of me like this kind of like a genie position and let's
turn our body in one direction. So, I'm going towards the bent
knee side. The more that you go over, the more that you're
going to feel a deep stretch into the lower back. This puts
really good rotation in there. Again, 20 to 30 second hold, you're
going to relax, take a breather, and then you're going
to repeat this on the other side. Try to do this one for
about three repetitions on both sides. In the last and we're
going to take this one to even the next level. We're going to
focus a little bit more off to the side. So, let's get back
into our original position just like this but this time around,
we're going to do a pivoting motion kind of like leaning
towards one side. Put your hands overlapping like this.
Lunge into it as much as you can. Once we feel a deep
stretch in the front part of the leg, we're going to put our
hands overhead like this and then what we're going to do is
lean away from the bent knee side. When you do this, you're
going to feel a deep stretch off to the side. Focus on
feeling it right through here. 20 to 30 second hold, you can
relax and then just repeat this up to five times but go through
all of those motions. If you feel like one is targeting your
back pain just a little bit better, make note of that,
throw more repetitions in and I do recommend that when you're
done on one side to switch to the other to keep them both in
balance. Here's a great back stretch that you can do
throughout the day to really help with muscle tightness and
joint stiffness and bad forward posture from sitting too long.
Let's go next to a door or a wall. Space yourself out
roughly an arm length away. I'm going to keep my legs hip width
apart. My arms are going to go straight and my hands are going
to go overhead like this. My arms are roughly shoulder width
apart. During this exercise, our hands are going to be like
anchors just like suction to that door. We don't want to let
them slip. What we're going to do from there is tuck our chin
towards our chest, put all of our body weight onto our heels,
and then slowly bend our knees and squat downwards, kind of
like taking your butt away from the door and towards the floor.
Go down as far as you can. You should feel a very deep stretch
from the upper back all the way down to the lower. Focus on
feeling it throughout the whole back. Once we hit that
comfortable stretch but it's very, very deep. What I'm
going to do is then take my chest and kind of just let it
sag towards the floor to really open up a little bit more in
between the shoulder blades. This will help with that
forward posture. Once we hit that position, what I'm
going to do is hold this one for about 20 to 30 seconds.
Just do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Let the tension
out and from there, let's come back up and take a breather and
then on the next repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more. Challenge those muscles but you want to
do this one for three to five complete repetitions. This is
how we can take it to the next level. Instead of going
straight forward with it, let's angle our body slightly towards
the left and then repeat this. You're going to notice that the
muscles get hit just a little bit differently. So, I would
experiment with going all the way the left and going all the
way towards the right if you notice that one certain angle
hits it just a little bit better make note of that throw
some more repetitions in we can also take this one to even the
next level by doing what is known as threading the needle
so let's get back into our original stretch going straight
forward like this bending down and taking the chest towards
the door once we hit that deep stretch what I'm going to do is
take one arm off bend the elbow at 90 degrees and then rotate my
whole back including my head in the opposite direction. This
puts a lot of good rotation in the back and you'll feel a
deep, deep stretch. Again, hold this one for about 20 to 30
seconds. You're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
it on the other side but throw a couple repetitions in that
and if you feel like one just hits it a little bit better,
you can focus on that and throw even more repetitions in until
you feel that muscle tightness and joint stiffness release. I
want to end this video with the best one, the standing hip
hike. It's a daily exercise that you can do that will help
build up the lower back and keep the hips and pelvis level.
If your focus is not only to get rid of lower back pain
quickly but for good, this one may help. We just need
something that we can step up on. A stack of books, a block
of wood, a yoga block like I'm using if you don't have any of
those, go next to a staircase but we want to step up on an
object just like this and let the other leg go off of it. If
this right here is very hard to bail you can use something like
a broomstick or the edge of a wall right here but you want
very good upright posture as much as you can. Keep both
knees straight during this exercise. We don't want to bend
them. Instead, we're going to move through the hips through
the lower back. So, let's have one leg up on the block or
whatever you're using. The other leg is going to go off to
the side. What I'm going to do is slowly lower my foot down
towards the floor and don't let it touch. Just kind of let it
hover but we're going to move through the hips through the
lower back as much as we can. When you do this, you're
going to feel a lot activate into the hips, the pelvis, and
the lower back. Once we can't go down any further, what we're
going to do is hold this one for about five seconds. The
next movement, we're going to go in reverse. We're going to
go all the way up as much as we can. Really try to hike that
hip up, raise that hip up as much as you can. You'll feel a
ton activate in the hips, the pelvis, the lower back. This
one's going to help strengthen that QL or quadratus lumborum,
that big instigator of back pain. Again, hold this one for
5 seconds. From there, you can relax but you just want to do
this one nice and slowly for about 10 to 15 complete
repetitions and if you want to make this one harder, hold it
for longer. So, instead of going for five-second holds, go
for ten-second holds but when you're done on one side, switch
to the other to keep them both in balance. If the exercises
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