hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and mr. Bear and his buddy the Get Well dinosaur, and
today we're gonna show you my top seven treatments for a stiff back so let's get
started. he's on you back.
so one of my favorite exercises / stretches is a pelvic tilt for any kind of back issues.
but these all of these are really just for a stiff back, not a specific
diagnosis. so pelvic tilts are kind of harder to do than you think if you're
doing them correctly. so it's really just like it sounds, you're tilting your
pelvis or your hips. so what you want to do is you want to use your core muscles
to flatten out your back. so I'm not pushing with my feet, my bottom is not
coming up off of the floor, or the bed, you can do these in the bed or on your
couch if you can't get down on the floor. but you're rotating it back with your
hip muscles. so if you feel like you're pushing with your legs you're not quite
doing it right. so all you want to do is even if you put something underneath
there even like your hands, you want to flatten out your back. so you're kind of
squishing whatever's underneath there. so with the pelvic tilt, once you get that
tilt, you should see that movement right there. you're just going to hold it for
about five seconds, just kind of get everything loosened up get that
stiffness out of that low back. and the pelvic tilts are great for that. and then
relax. and so holding it for five seconds. you can just do about ten maybe two sets
of ten a couple times a day. these are just again a really great way just to
kind of get everything loosened up in that low back if you get that stiffness
out of there. so once you do the pelvic tilts, then you're going to go into a
full bridge. so this time your bottom is coming up off the floor. You're
using your glutes, you're using your hamstrings, and your really kind of
driving your knees forward when you come up. and when you come up you want to kind
of come up one segment at a time of your back. so you don't have to
like stop at each segment, but that's the motion you want to do. you don't just want
to come straight up, you want to kind of roll your back up that's what's going to
help get some of that stiffness out of there. so you don't necessarily have to
pause, you want to get it pretty fairly straight once you come up.
then nice and slowly come back down. so again you know probably about ten of
these you know a couple sets of ten. you don't have to go crazy with it. sometimes
doing them in the morning and then again in the evening before you go to bed is a
really nice way to get everything loosened up get that stiffness out of
there. so after that, you're going to go into a little bit of a trunk rotation.
while you're lying down, slide your feet a little bit closer together so your
knees are touching, and then you're just going to bring both the knees over to
one side. your hints are gonna come up a little bit off the floor, but your upper
body should stay down, and you should just kind of get a nice
stretch on the outside of your back and your hips. so this is getting some of
that rotation now. just a little pause, maybe five seconds or so, and then roll
back up, and then go the other way. so again you can see I'm coming up a little
bit here, but my upper body is staying down on the floor or on the bed or the
couch, wherever you are. so since these are kind of a five second hold, maybe 10
seconds if you want to get a little more of a stretch, I just do maybe five on
each side. again you can do a couple sets a couple times a day, but this is a
really really good one just to kind of get the side of the lower back stretch
out. now that you have you know doing the front to back, so it gets kind of
everywhere in that low back. then you're going to go into a single knee to chest
stretch. and again it's just like it sounds.
propping both knees up, some people like to put one down, they feel like they're
getting a better stretch, but if you have some back tightness some back stiffness
in there, I think leaving one propped up is a good way to do it.
if you have knee issues as well sometimes people grab like this, but if
you have so many issues sometimes people get a little more pain because they're
pushing on that joint. so you can wrap underneath here. I like to do it this way,
but if you want a really good pull, some people just kind of come wrap around up
on top, which you can do as long as that's not painful. so with the single
knee to chest stretch this one you want to hold it for 30 seconds. so this is a
full 30 second stretch. you should kind of feel it in the bottom area. you should
feel it in that low back area. and then I like to alternate back and forth just to
give the other one a break. so once you're done with that one, then
you give this one a good stretch. and so again 30 seconds doing three on each
side. so this one's you know a little bit longer hold, but just you can you know do
nice relaxing and just get everything stretched out. after you do the single
need a chest stretch, then you're gonna do both of them together which we just
called double knee to chest, or some people call it the egg roll. but this
time you're just gonna come up with both knees. so again if you don't have any
knee issues, some people just kind of like to grab it
like a hug if you can. if you can get your knees that high up, if you can't
then you can just kind of grab underneath here and pull up. but again
this is a full 30 second stretch holding it and then doing that three times. if
you get a little bit of groin pain with that, just don't push up into the pain.
just just stop where you're feeling that little bit of tension. and so then
you're gonna roll over onto your knees and as long as you don't have any knee
problems where there's not a whole lot of pain. kind of sit back and then you're
gonna go into the prayer stretch or a child's pose. and this one's really nice
too. it's not only great for a stiff back, but it's kind of good for your hips, as
you can see, your knees, and your shoulder. so it's a really kind of a great whole
body stretch. but it's really good for your back when you have that stiffness.
so you can do a couple ways. some people like to sit back and then just stretch
forward into the stretch. and again you can hold this for 30 seconds or some
people like to put their arms out first and then sit back into it. so you can try
both ways if you want to and just see whichever one's most comfortable for you.
and again, you might not be able to sit back this far, and that's okay. to modify
it, you can stand and then maybe go to a counter and then just roll down on to
the counter top and that's kind of similar, but if you can get into this
position this is going to be the best stretch. so again 30 seconds three times.
and then the last one is just a cat dog or cat cow, a couple of different terms
for it, kind of stretch. so you're gonna get on all fours. again you want to make
sure you're kind of in a really good position where your shoulders are right
above your hands so you're not irritating something else while you're
doing this stretch. so when you go into the cat
portion of the stretch, you're gonna arch your back up and then tuck your chin in
while you're doing it. so you're kind of arching up like this, like when you see
cats do it. bear likes to do it a lot too.
but tucking in that chin. you don't have to hold it for a full 30 seconds, you can
do maybe like 10 to 15 seconds and then when you go into the dog or the cow,
whichever one you want to call it, you drop kind of your hips down and then you
want to look up. so that gives you a nice stretch through here as well. and so
again just holding that 5 to 10 seconds, but it's a really really great way to
get some of that stiffness out of that back. and so you can just alternate back
and forth maybe 5 times each way. again you know a couple times a day just to
get everything really stretched out. so there you have it, those were your top
seven treatments for a stiff back. bear says that mr. dinosaur has made his back
feel better. so if you'd like to help support my channel, click on the
link up there, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. and
remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.