This video, I'm going to show you how to get rid of one-sided
back pain at home. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to focus on
getting quick one-sided back pain relief by targeting the
muscles that are commonly associated with it. This
includes the psoas, quadratus lumborum, and latissimus dorsi
muscles. We need to focus on lengthening and strengthening
these muscles to get quick relief, and hopefully get rid of
it for good. To make it easy, I'm going to break this video
up into two separate parts. Lengthening and strengthening
with the latter one being the most important. Do not skip
that part if you want to get long-lasting relief. As a
bonus, all of these exercises can be done at home. They
require no equipment and they give quick one-sided back pain
relief, even in as little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started
and fix that back pain right now. In the first part, we're
going to focus on getting quick back pain relief off to one
side by lengthening the muscles with some great stretching
exercises. This first one is known as a leaning four. I'm
going to start off on a floor and I'm going to position my
legs like this. One leg is going to be straight. The other
knee is going to be bent. Whatever side that you have the
bent knee is going to be the side that you're focusing on
tackling that one-sided back pain. So, in this case, it's
going to be my right. I'm going to bend that right knee and
then put my right foot flush against the inside of the knee
and the leg. You want to just scoot your heel back just a
little bit until you start to feel little bit of a stretch
going off into that right hip. Okay, when you look down, it
should look like a figure four. I'm going to take the hand on
the opposite side and then push down on my knee to press it
into the floor and try to keep it flat on the floor as much as
possible. From there, I'm going to take my other hand and then
I'm going to go off to my side for a little bit more support.
You want to kind of inch upwards like this with that
hand also to keep your body upright as much as you can.
From here, we're going to go into our corkscrew stretch.
That is just turning the body towards the side of pain. So,
I'm going to rotate my whole body moving through my hips
trying to keep my back as straight as possible and keep
turning over. With this one, you might get a sudden pop,
crack, or release in the back because it puts a ton of
mobility into the lower back. Go over as far as you can and
hold this one comfortably for about 20 to 30 seconds. Just do
nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Let that
tension out. When you need a breather, just relax like this.
I try to do this one for three to five repetitions and with
each repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more.
To take this one to the next level and really focus on the
QL, or quadratus lumborum muscle, what you're going to do
is go into that corkscrew but this time around, take your
hand off the floor, put it over your head like this and then
laterally bend or tilt your body in the opposite direction.
You'll feel a deep stretch off to the side right here. It
feels really good pretty much from of the rib cage going into
the lower back going into the hips. Again, I try to hold this
one for about 20 to 30 seconds. From there, I just relax. On
the next repetition, I try to build into it just a little bit
more. Three to five repetitions and when you're done on one
side, switch to the other to keep them both in balance. This
stretching exercise is known as the 3D hip flexor. It's going
to hit the psoas, the quadratus lumborum, and the lats all at
the same time. The great part is you can pretty much do it
anywhere at home, even at work. We just need a sturdy chair one,
without wheels. So whatever side that you're having pain, let's
say I have a lot going on on my left, I'm going to take the
other side's leg and put my foot up on the chair, knee's
going to be bent roughly at 90°. The painful side's leg is going
to go straight and I'm going to keep the foot flat on the floor
and try to take it behind me as much as I can until I feel a
gentle stretch forming in the front part of that straight leg.
From there, my hands are going to go on my hips I'm going to
engage the core for a little bit support and try to have
very good upright posture. Keep the back straight during this
exercise. The first movement is very easy. I'm just going to
lunge forward with my body weight. You're going to feel a
deep stretch into the hip flexors, the front part of the
straight leg. That's activating the psoas, a big instigator of
back pain. You want to hold this one comfortably for 20 to
30 seconds. Just do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Let
that tension out. When you need a breather, just come back like
this. Try to do this one three to five times and with each
repetition, try to stretch into it just a little bit more. To
take this one to the next level and target the muscles just a
little bit differently, we're going to add some dynamic
movement in there. So, let's get back into that original
stretch right here but I'm going to take my arms, put them
into kind of like a genie position just like this. Turn
your whole body moving through your hips through your waist in
the opposite direction. You'll feel that deep stretch
intensify. It really feels good. Go over as much as I can.
Again, hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds and from there, I
just relax and try to do this three to five times. You can
also go towards the side of pain and see if that helps. If
that is the case, throw some repetitions in. Always explore
these movements and take what works best for you. To take
this one to even the next level, we can do a lateral bend
to target off to the side and hit that quadratus lumborum and
the lat muscle. So, what I'm going to do is get back into my
original lunge stay right here but I'm going to take my arm
off the side that I'm having pain so in this case it's my
left put it overhead and then I'm going to tilt my body in
the opposite direction as much as I can this really feels good
I pretty much feel it from my armpit going down into the side
of the ribs down into my lower back into my hips hold this one
comfortably 20 to 30 seconds. Relax and then repeat this
three to five times, and I do recommend switching to the
other side too to keep everything in balance.
Stretching and lengthening the muscles can offer quick back
pain relief, but if you want long-lasting relief and
hopefully prevent it, you have to focus on strengthening
everything in and around the back. This first strengthening
exercise is great. It's going to hit the majority of the
muscles that cause back pain. It's called the planking
bridge. You can do this one in bed or on a floor. What I'm
going to do is start with whatever side I'm having pain.
Let's say it's my left side. I'm going to have that one
facing down towards the bed or the floor. My body is going to be in a
nice straight line, from my shoulders to my hip to my
knees. My knees bent roughly at 90 degrees. I'm going to
support my upper body on my forearm just like this. The
other hand is going to go right on my hip. The first movement
is the plank. Very easy to do. You're driving your hip up
towards the ceiling as much as you can. The more that you go
up, the more that you're going to feel a great activation of
the muscles off the side right here. I pretty much feel it
through my whole back going into my pelvis into my hip. I
try to hold this for about 5 seconds. From there, I'm just
going to relax, take a breather, and then repeat this
10 to 15 times and with each repetition, try to drive the
hip up just a little bit more to challenge those muscles.
When you're done with that, if you have a little bit more
energy, you can throw in another set or two and I do
recommend that whatever you do on one side to do on the other
to keep them both imbalance. From there, we're going to go
into the lat bridge. So, I'm going to lie flat on my back
just like this. Knees feet flat. The movement is very
easy. I'm going to take my hands, put them right on my
hips. Engage the core for a little bit of support and then
you're just going to lift your butt up towards the ceiling,
driving the hips upward as much as you can until you have a
nice straight line from your knees to your hips to your
shoulders. If you're unable to get into that position, go up
as far as you can. Over time, hopefully you'll gain strength
and flexibility to get into this position but you'll feel
the core muscles (the abs) firing, the lower back, the glutes, the
buttocks, the hamstrings... everything that helps support
the spine. I try to hold this one for five seconds and then
from there, I just relax and then I try to repeat this 10
to 15 times. If this becomes too easy, let's start to focus
on movements that are little bit more challenging that will
also target other muscles. So, what you can do is what is
known as the lat bridge. So, in this position right here, I'm
going to bend my elbows, take them off to the side, them into
the floor of the bed and then lift my upper back off the bed
or the floor. You'll feel those lats really start to fire in
the upper back. It feels really good. Again, try to hold this
one for about 5 seconds. You're just going to relax and you can
repeat this 10 to 15 times. To take this one to even the next
level, whatever side that you're having pain, again,
let's say it's my left side right here. I'm going to get
into that lat bridge and then take one leg off. So, I messed
up is that this one is actually activating the right side so
for the left side I'm going to take my right leg like this and
you're going to feel a ton fire it's really challenging to do
so again do that one for about five seconds you can relax 10
to 15 repetitions. If you feel like you have a little bit more
energy, throw in another set or two but I do recommend that
whatever you do on one side to switch to the other side to
keep them both in balance. So here's a unique strengthening
exercise called the butt walk and you're going to find out
here very shortly why it's called that. This one is really
going to fire the psoas and quadratus lumbar muscles. We're
going to start off on a floor. Have your legs roughly hip
width apart. Keep your knees straight during this exercise.
Kinda like treat the legs like a straight piece of wood. From
there, I'm going to take my hands, push them together into
a prayer position, and tighten the core for a little bit more
support. Have very good upright posture too. The movement is
pretty easy. We're to lift up on one side completely lifting
that butt cheek up and really focusing on activating the
muscles off to one side and then we're going to drive that
side forward just like kicking outward with our heel and then
lowering it down towards the floor we're just going to
repeat that on the other side when you do this you're just
going to notice that you're going to slowly start to walk
by using your butt and you're going to feel a ton of muscles
firing I try to do this one for about five to 10 repetitions on
both sides but if it is pretty easy, you can challenge
yourself by going forward even more. Just make sure to do it
on both sides equally. To take this one to the next level, go
in reverse. You'll just notice that the muscles get hit a
little bit differently but give both of those a try and try to
do about three sets. So, if you stuck around to the end of the
video, you're going to be rewarded with one of the
easiest ways to lengthen and strengthen the muscles that
might be causing your one-sided back pain. This is known as a
hip hiker. We just need a flat object that we can put one foot
on. You can use a yoga block, a stack of books, a brick, or if
you don't have any of those, go next to a staircase that works
too. So, what I'm going to do is step up on one side just
like this. Doesn't matter what side you start with, we're
going to do it on both. You can take your arm right here and
grip off to the side of a wall, a chair, anything that will
offer a little bit more support. Take the hand on the
other side and just put it right on the hip. The movement
is very easy. I'm going to take my foot that's hovering off and
just put it right off to the side of that object. What I'm
going to do is lift upward completely with one side. Go
upwards driving that hip towards the ceiling. The more
that you go up, the more that you're going to feel a ton of
muscles fire off to that side. I'm really feeling it off to my
right. I hold this one comfortably for about 5
seconds. From there, I'm going to go in reverse. Attack the
muscles just a little bit differently. So, I'm going to
slide downwards. What you'll notice this time around is the
left side now has to activate and stabilize this movement. I
keep going down slowly until my foot and heel are just off the
floor. Don't let it touch. Again, hold this one for about
five seconds and from there, I'm just going to repeat this
process nice and slowly. Five second holds for about 10
repetitions in both directions. If you feel like you have a
little bit more energy, you can throw in another set or two but
from there, switch to the other side to keep everything in
balance. If the exercises helped, please support the
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If you have any comments or questions, please leave them
below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for
watching!