In this video, I'm going to show you how to decompress your
back in bed for instant pain relief. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
decompression, or pulling motions, throughout the whole
back to take pressure out of spinal disc that might be
causing back pain or sciatica. All of these exercises are
easy, effective, and can be done in the comfort of your
bed. And the great part is, it may give quick relief too, even
in as little as thirty seconds! Go through all of the
exercises. It's going to hit the back just a little bit
differently. So, take what is most effective at getting rid
of your back pain or sciatica pain. So, let's get started and
get the back feeling better right now. This decompression
exercise is what I'd like to call the back hammer because
it's very good at hitting specific spots in the lower
back. Let's start off on our back in bed just like this. Our
legs are going to be off, knees bent roughly at ninety degrees.
Feet are going to be flat during this exercise. That way,
we can push and pull and slide our body off the edge of this
bed. Arms go straight at the elbow. Hands are going to grip
at the edge. What I'm going to do from here is slowly start or
slowly slide my body off the edge of that bed. To the point
where my hips and my buttock are off the edge of that bed
and gravity is starting to take my lower body weight down
towards the floor. Let's reposition the knees at 90°
like this. Feet are also again going to be flat. When you do
this, it's going to put the back into extension which helps
take pressure off spinal discs. It should feel like a very deep
stretch at the very low end of the lumbar spine. This should
be targeting L5. From here, let's hold this position
comfortably for thirty seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled
breathing also. Just let the tension out. The more you
relax, the better this treatment will be. From here,
what we're going to do is slowly just inch down a little
bit more and try to target the next segment above which would
be L4. The great part about this exercise, we're going to
target L5 all the way through L1. All of the
segments of the lower back. Again, just repeat this. We're
going to reposition our legs so this is comfortable, we're going
to let gravity take it down towards the floor and just hold
this position for 30 seconds and then just repeat all the
way up to the top of the lower back. When you do this, you're
going to notice that one certain spot hits it just a
little bit better, gives you more relief. Maybe it's right
here for me. Make note of that, that's the spot that you're
going to want to concentrate on and throw more repetitions in, I
would recommend doing this three to five times and just
kind of relaxing after about 30 seconds and then repeating. If
this becomes too easy, you can take it to the next level by
raising your body up and taking one arm and sliding it
underneath the back right at the edge of the bed. This will
put the back into more extension and at that point,
intensifying the stretch, you can also use a rolled-up towel
or even a pillow underneath your back. So, experiment with
that. If you get more relief, use it but you can also take
this one to the next next level by incorporating a lateral lean
into it to take more pressure off the back. So, let's go back
to that spot that's offering us the most amount of relief.
Let's say it's right here for me. What I'm going to do is
cross my arms over my shoulders like this. I always call it the
mummy and then from there, I'm going to take one shoulder and
try to just go towards one edge of the bed, keeping my back
flat during this whole exercise. When you do this,
you're going to feel the back start open up just a little bit
differently so experiment with this go all the way towards the
left or until a point where you feel relief hold that for about
30 seconds relax and then you can repeat this you can also
try it on the other side but go through all of the motions
target the spots that need it the most and throw more
repetitions in. So two of my absolute favorite back
exercises are the child's pose and the cobra, two yoga
positions, and when you put them together, it pretty much is
going to help target decompress the whole back from the
shoulders down to the tailbone and they're very easy to do. To
start off with, let's go on all fours in bed just like this. I
like to have my feet off to the side of the bed or at the edge
of the bed I should say and I hook at the edge with my feet
for a stable anchor point. From here, let's start off by doing
the child's pose. I'm going to tuck my chin towards my chest
like this, pull my arms out in front of me. From there, I'm
just going to lower my butt down towards the heels as much
as I can while I keep my arms straight and just really grip
into the bed with your fingers. Once we have a very comfortable
stretch, let's try to inch forward with our fingers just a
little bit to intensify the stretch. The key is to allow
the upper body, chest to sag down towards the bed. It will
help really stretch in between the shoulder blades but with
this, you should feel a full back stretch from the shoulders
all the way down to the tailbone. Hold this comfortably
for thirty seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing
also. Let that tension out. From there, we're going to go
into the cobra. So, we just rock forward like this to the
point where our hips and our pelvis go flat. During this
exercise, we want to make sure to have our hips and pelvis
flat. We're not arching up like this. We're putting the lower
back into extension which will help decompress those spinal
discs. If this position right here is too much, you can do
what is known as a half cobra. So, instead of straightening
the arms, we just go on to the elbows just like this. So,
experiment with them, go with whatever you feel is the
comfortable but you want to hold this position for twenty
to 30 seconds again do nice slow controlled breathing from
there we're just gonna go back into the child's pose and with
the next repetition always challenge yourself also to
stretch down a little bit further to intensify this
stretch but you want to just repeat this nice and slow for
about three to five complete repetitions. If you want to
take this one to the next level, what you can do is
instead of going straight out with it, let's angle a body
just very slightly towards one direction. I'll go a little bit
towards my right and then repeat. What you'll notice is
is that this hits the back just a little bit differently. So,
go all the way towards the right and then go all the way
towards the left. If you notice that one certain angle hits it
a little bit better, make note of that. Throw more repetitions
in and you can also repeat this while doing the cobra. So, give
that a try and focus on the spots that you feel just need a
little bit more chin. So, here is a great three-part exercise
that you can progress into to increase the intensity. We're
going to start off on our stomach in bed just like this.
Let's put a pillow or towel underneath our hips or pelvis
to create an anchor point and also give us a little bit more
comfort. First part is very easy. What I'm going to do is
slowly slide forward until my shoulders and my head are
completely off the edge of that bed. From there, just allow
gravity to take them both. When you do this, you're already
going to feel a very good stretch happening into the
lower back that works it's way up to the upper back try to
hold this for about 30 seconds do nice slow control breathing
again the more you relax the better this exercise will be
but if you want from here you can hold this for a longer
period of time if it feels good hold it for several minutes
grab a book, an iPhone, anything just take your mind off it and
let gravity do all of the work if you need a breather just
slide back just like this and take one but you want to try to
do this for about three repetitions and you can slide
forward just a little bit more with each repetition also
because that's only going to intensify the stretch because
gravity is taking more body weight, increasing that
traction throughout the whole back. In the second part, let's
take this one to the next level. What I'm going to do is
keep going forward off the edge of the bed until I can go on my
elbows just like this. I want my body weight to be supported
on my forearms and my elbows. My elbows go slightly pointed
out from my body. I just interlock my hands just like
this for a very stable anchor point. Let's tuck the chin
towards the chest very slightly. From here, this
should be a very, very good stretch pretty much into the
lower back all the way up to the upper back. We want to hold
this position for about thirty seconds. Do nice, slow
controlled breathing again. When you need a breather, you
can just push yourself back up but you want to do this one for
about three to five complete repetitions. And if it feels
good, you can hold it for an extended period of time. In the
third part, we can really make this a lot stronger by
incorporating more of a child's pose position into this. So,
instead of going up on our elbows, what I'm going to do is
straighten my arms out, just like this, take my fingers,
grip into the floor of the carpet, and from here, tuck the
chin towards the chest and then crawl forward with the arms as
much as you can. The more that you crawl forward with the
arms, the more that you're going to feel it throughout the
back. Also let the chest try to sag down towards the floor
because that will also help stretch the upper back even
more but once we feel a very good traction throughout the
whole back let's hold this position for 30 seconds again
if you need a breather just push yourself back up with your
arms pull with your legs but you want to do this for three
to five complete repetitions to take this one even to the next
level I don't know how many times I've said that so far
what I'm going to do is turn my body and angle it towards one
certain direction. So, in this case, I'm going all the way
towards my right. When you do this, you're going to feel the
muscles and the back it hit just a little bit differently.
So, experiment with going all the way towards the right, go
all the way towards the left. If you notice that one certain
spot like right here on this right side for me, hits it just
the best. What I'm going to do at that point is throw more
repetitions in because I'm targeting areas that's
releasing pressure and also offering relief. If the video
helped, please support the channel by giving this video a
like and maybe subscribing too. If you have any comments or
questions, please leave them below. I'll get back to you as
soon as I can. Thank you so much for watching!