In this video, I'm going to show you the best back
exercises to do every night. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare
in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I want to share
with you some of my personal favorite exercises that you can
do on a daily basis. They're perfect to do right before
going to bed. They're focused on taking tightness, stiffness,
a lot of tension out of the back very quickly. Pretty much
all that stuff that you accumulate during your daily
activities. All of these exercises again can be done in
bed. Don't require any special equipment and may give quick
relief even, in as little is thirty seconds! So, let's get
started and get that back feeling better right now. So,
here's a great exercise that's not only going to focus on the
lower back but a lot on the side right here with the muscle
called the quadratus lumborum which is a big instigator of
back pain. I call this the sideline stretch. I'm going to
go next to the edge of a bed. It doesn't matter what side you
start on. We're going to do it on both. In this case, I'm going
towards my left. From there, I want to position my body to the
point where my head is going to be resting off the edge the
bed. We want to put it into extension. That way we get a
nice neck stretch, also into the upper back. My knees are going
to be bent slightly like this. What I want to do is whatever
side is closest, in this case is my left, I'm going to bring
that leg forward just a little bit and then I'm going to take
my right leg and then go through the hole like this, like
threading a needle. Let's straighten the knee out as much
as possible. From there, I'm going to take the outside of
that ankle and press into the edge of that bed for a stable
anchor point. So during this exercise, I'm taking this leg,
this ankle pressing into the bed the whole time. From there,
let's take the left leg, slide it back just a little bit
towards us. Our foot is going to be flat. I'm going to take
my right hand, place it on the outside of my left knee and
then I'm going to rotate this leg over away from the side of
that bed. When you do this, you're going to feel a great
stretch pretty much in the side of the leg, into the hip, the
pelvis, and the lower back. Challenge yourself to stretch
into it as much as you can. You all want the bottom to be flat
as possible during this exercise. Once we have a very
comfortable stretch, what I'm going to do from there is focus
a little bit more into my full back. So, I'm going to take my
left arm and I'm going to place it overhead just like this. I'm
going to then slide my upper back and I'm going to keep the
back flat away from the edge of that bed as much as I can. When
you do this, you're really going to feel a great stretch
into the full back. Pretty much from the upper back, into the
armpit, all the way down to the side into the lower back. Focus
on feeling that full back stretch. Once we hit a
comfortable stretch, let's hold this for at least twenty
seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Just
let that tension out. From there, take a breather and on
the next repetition, let's try to take this knee down even
further to get a better stretch already and then we're going to
stretch into it even further with our upper back but you
want to do this for five complete repetitions and when
you're done on one side, always switch to the other to keep
them both in balance. With this exercise, I'm going to combine
two of my favorites, the frog rock back and the child's pose
to hit so many muscle groups in such little time. I like this
one too because it's going to focus a lot on the hip flexors
which are overlooked when it comes to back pain. Let's start
off in bed on all fours just like this. We're going to do
the frog rock back first. So, I'm going to take two fingers.
Let's do a chin tuck and then I'm going to put my feet
together so both of the uh heels pretty much are making
contact. What we want to do is then slide our knees outwards
like this while pressing our heels together. The more that
you slide out, the more that you're going to feel a great
stretch into the inner part of the leg into the groin itself.
So, hit that comfortable stretch. Once we hit that, what
I'm going to do from there is lower my butt down towards my
heels and when you do this, it's going to feel great. It
feels like a very good stretch into the legs, into the groin,
into the pelvis, into the back itself. Try to challenge
yourself to lower it down as much as we can. This is where
we're going to add in the child's pose to focus on the
full back. We're going to take our fingers and then what I'm
going to do is crawl forward and really feel a good pulling
stretch, a traction, into the upper back going all the way
down to the lower back. Once we hit that point, let's try to
hold this for at least twenty seconds. You can hold it for
longer if you feel comfortable. Thirty seconds, forty-five
seconds, as long as it feels comfortable, do it. But you
want to do nice, slow controlled breathing while
doing this exercise too because it's only going to help let
tension out even more. From there, what I'm going to do is
rock forward. So, with this one, you're going to feel a lot
going on into the legs into those hip flexors. So, with
your whole body lunge forward like this kinda through the
hips and through the waist, until we hit another
comfortable stretch. Hold this one for about twenty to thirty
seconds. From there, take a breather and then on the next
repetition, let's try to take the knees out even further. Get
a better stretch and then we're going to take the butt down
even lower to again challenge ourselves, challenge those
muscles, and get it loosened up even more. If you want to do
this for five complete repetitions and really focus on
trying to stretch into it more and more to build more
flexibility and hopefully give you more relief. One of my
personal favorite exercises to do in bed is known as the
corkscrew and it's actually a favorite of many because it can
end in a very satisfying pop, crack, or self release into the
back. What we're going to do is lay flat on our back just like
this. Let's go to one side. We're going to do us on both
sides so it doesn't really matter which one you start with
and this is going to be shown in three different parts so go
through all three and take what is most effective for you. Let's
say that I'm focusing a little bit more on my right side I'm
going to go all the way towards the left side of that bed the
left leg is going to go straight I'm going to bend the
right knee like this and place my foot underneath my left knee.
Let's take the straight leg here and then push down on the
top of our foot for a stable anchor point this will make
that exercise just a little bit easier. My left hand is going
to grab on the outside of my right knee. From here, what I'm
going to do is take that bent knee and then go off to the
side of the bed. Let's try to keep our hips, our bottom as
flat as possible. That way, it puts a lot of good rotation
into our lower back. From here, what I'm going to do is
straight my right arm at the elbow like this and then look
towards the other direction. When you do this, it's going to
activate the upper back muscles. So, pretty much you're
going to feel it from the lower back all the way the upper back
and it feels great. Again, you might get a sudden pop or crack
with this exercise, if that joint is locked up and it
suddenly releases, but you want to hold this for about twenty
seconds. From there, you're going to relax and then repeat
this up to five times. With each repetition, try to take
this knee further down off the bed because it's only going to
intensify that stretch and when you're done on one side, again,
always switch to the other side with these exercises. To take
this one to the next level, what we can do is keep this one straight but what
I'm going to do from there is take my knee up like this, bend
it at 90° and then I'm going to repeat that exercise. What
you're going to notice is that you have a lot of a deeper
stretch I should say into the back itself. So again, only go
to your comfort level. 20 second holds, relax, and then repeat
this up to five times. Challenge yourself with each
repetition to stretch more into it. If you want to focus a
little bit more across the pelvis, into the glutes and
buttock, you can do what is known as a figure four or a
pigeon pose with this corkscrew exercise. So, what I'm going to
do is bring one leg up like this and then bend one knee at
ninety degrees. The other leg is also going to be bent and
the ankle is going to rest on that knee. So, when you look
down at it, it should look like a figure four. That's how you
know you're doing it right. So again, what I'm going to do
from here is take my left hand, place it on the right knee. I'm
to rotate that over while my upper body, my head looks in
the other direction. You should really feel this one over the
hips, the glute, the buttock, and that piriformis. It's a
very deep stretch. Hold this one for twenty seconds, relax,
and then repeat up to five times. It's just a good way to
focus on the whole back across the pelvis, hips, glutes, you
name it and really get everything loosened up and
hopefully decrease a lot of pain and discomfort. So, here
is a really easy way to let gravity do all of the hard work for us.
This is a decompression traction exercise. Think
pulling motions throughout the whole back to get pressure out
and hopefully loosen everything up. I'm going to go next to the
edge of a bed. My upper body is going to be on the bed. Let's
put a pillow or towel underneath our waist for extra
comfort. The lower body is just going to hang off from the
hips. We also want our hips, our knees in a nice straight
line and your toes are going to be touching the floor for a
stable anchor point. This should allow your whole to
really start to relax. With this one too, you should
already start to feel a nice, gentle pull pretty much in the
lower back because gravity is taking that down. What we want
to do to take this one to the next level is incorporate a
little bit more throughout the whole back. So, I'm going to
tuck my chin towards my chest like this. Straighten my arms
out at the elbow. Let's take our fingers, grip into the bed,
and then crawl forward as much as we can. The more that we go
forward, the more intense this stretch gets. So, go to a very
comfortable point. Once we hit that comfortable point, let's
hold this for twenty to thirty seconds. You should really
focus on feeling it pretty much from the shoulders all the way
down to the tailbone. Do nice, slow controlled breathing too
just to let that tension out. When you need a breather, just
relax like this, take one and then on the next repetition, go
forward even more. Challenge yourself to get everything
stretched out. You want to do this for five complete
repetition. How we can take this one to even the next next
level. What I'm going to do while doing this exercise is
just go towards one direction. So, I'm tilting my body a
little bit towards my left and then repeating. What you're
going to notice is that this hits the muscles just a little
bit differently in the back. If I'm going towards my left, I
usually feel it a little bit more into the right. It really
focuses on hitting a muscle called the quadratus lumborum,
or the QL muscle, which is a big instigator of back pain, but go
through different motions. Go all the way towards the left
and then go all the way towards the right. You'll probably
notice that one certain angle, maybe it's just right here for
me hits my back a little bit better than the others. I want
to throw more repetitions in there, focus on tight, achy
spots, stretch that out, and hopefully that will give you
very quick pain relief. With this exercise, we're going to
take one of the best back exercises, a yoga pose called
the cobra and take it to the next level by incorporating a
knee-to-chest component. Let's start off on our stomach, go to the
edge of a bed. It doesn't matter what side you start off
with. We're going to do it on both. So, what I'm going to do
is take my leg off just like this and then, I'm going to do
a knee to the chest. To make this easier, you can have your
foot kind of right on the side right here and then just slide
that knee up towards your chest as much as you can. You should
feel a great stretch into the glutes, the buttocks, into leg,
hips, pelvis, lower back. It works a lot of muscles. So,
really try to feel that good deep stretch. Once we hit that
point, what I want to do from there is go into the cobra
pose. We'll start off with what is known as a half cobra or a
press up. So, we're going to keep our hips flat during this
exercise but what I'm going to do is a simple chin tuck
towards the chest and then I'm going to lift up on my elbows
like this. We're going to put our back into extension and
this feels wonderful. You should feel a full back stretch
pretty much from the top all the way down to the tailbone.
Really focus on feeling that good deep stretch. Once we hit
that let's hold this for twenty to thirty seconds. With this
one too, do nice, slow, controlled breathing. Let the
tension out because you'll get better results. From there,
just take a breather and then on the next repetition, slide
that knee up even further and then press up into it even more
to get a better stretch. If this becomes too easy, you can
go into the full cobra. So, instead of going on my elbows,
what I'm going to do is then place my hands like this and
press up as much as we can but when we do this, we want to
keep the hips flat but focus on a very good stretch pretty much
into the legs, the hips, cross the lower back all the way
throughout the whole back. Do this for three to five complete
repetitions. If you like the video and it helped, please
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