Dom McKay musculoskeletal therapist here to show you exercises to relieve your
lower back pain
first of all it'll help to have a basic understanding of what
causes lower back pain is it'll give context to the exercises I'm about to
show you in simple terms because of the sedentary lifestyle that we lead we
develop certain masculine balances around the lower back and the hips that
affect biomechanics and posture perhaps the most significant factor in
developing these muscular imbalances is the adoption of the seated position in
early childhood as you can see in this position my hips are in flexion over
time the body adapts by shortening the hip flexors and then when you stand up
the pelvis compensates by tilting forward here's an exaggerated example
generally it's not as obvious as this further to tightness in the hip flexors
the body also compensates via a mechanism called reciprocal inhibition
which is that it weakens the opposing muscle group in this case the glutes now
the glutes being the natural power center of the lower back in this
weakened and under active state the lumber erectors begin to take over
causing tightness and tension throughout the lower back and eventually pain and
discomfort for more in-depth explanation of contributing factors to lower back
pain have a look through some of my other videos but for now let's get into
the rehabilitation exercises word of caution before doing these exercises if
you're suffering from an acute lower back injury with referrals into the legs
particularly if it's just on one side then my recommendation is to seek
professional help before embarking on any rehabilitation program but if you're
just suffering from a stiff lower back then let's move on to the exercises so
to begin with as a warm up for further exercises we're going to begin with a
breathing exercise this is going to teach you how to use your transverse
abdominis and pelvic floor properly and it's also going to help you to integrate
the breath into your actual movements so begin by lying on the floor with the
knees bent the feet placed flat on the floor and
we're going to take one palm and place it on our chest and the other palm and
place it on the belly now take a deep breath in and try and expand the abdomen
and then as you breathe out just relax now on the second breath we're going to
expand in all directions so we're opening up to the front the sides in the
back and then as we exhale we're going to contract all of that in we're going
to try and draw the navel to the spine so again inhale and exhale now it's good
if you can get a cycle going in through the nose and out through the mouth
and that's it so this can be used as a warm-up for the next exercises that I'm
going to show you this exercise is designed to safely mobilize the spine
I'd advise against forward bends if you're suffering from lower back pain
because it's likely to make it worse so begin on all fours you place the knees
directly under the hips and the hands directly under the shoulders and begin
by breathing in and looking up and really arching extending through the
back so you're trying to get an even extension throughout the entire spine
here and then as you breathe out begin to flex the spine and stretch up like a
cat and then breathe in look up arch the back
breathe out reverse the movement once more
so I'd advise about 10 to 15 of these two times a day glute bridges will
activate and strengthen your gluteus maximus muscle which is another key
muscle to relieve lower back pain so lying on the floor feet planted on the
floor knees bent and palms down begin by lifting the pelvis off the floor and
then relax so while you're doing this you're really
trying not to create a backward arch you're not doing like a bridge that you
would do in yoga you're actually trying to use your gluts and your abdomen to
keep your spine in a neutral position so a neutral position is basically where
your spine has a natural curve in it so as I engage here I'm going to feel my
glutes fire and then as I get to the top I'm going to have to engage
everything I've got in my abdomen in order to stop this from happening so if
I let go of the abdomen I go into an arch if i strengthen through the abdomen
my back comes into a more neutral position again so this really works the
abs as well as the glutes and the hamstrings so deep breath in breathe out
fire up abdomen on slowly back down again and everything decontracts
so there's a lot of people teaching glute bridges on YouTube but I think one
of the key things that's missing in a lot of the ways that it's taught is just
this contraction of the abdomen clams are a great way to start activating and
strengthening your gluteus medius muscle which sits on the side of the hip and is
an important stabilizer for lower back pain so we'll begin by lying on our side
and just get the head comfortable laying it on the hand and bend the knees to
about 45 degrees and the hips to about 45 degrees as well and now begin by just
lifting this leg now it's only a subtle movement we're not trying to go up all
the way because then we start to engage other muscles of the back but we're just
lifting the knee and then relaxing so really the focus should be pretty much
on this point here of the hip and as you do this you can suck the navel to the
spine and really try and keep the this spine kind of straight and braced you
can breathe out as you go up breathe in as you bring the knee down now to begin
with this should be enough to get a little bit of a burning the side of the
hip but once you start getting stronger you can use a thera-band and wrap it
around your knees and I'll demonstrate how that's done so you just create a
loop with the thera-band place it around the knees and again
exactly the same position but now we've just got a bit of resistance so
breathing in suck the navel to the spine brace the abdomen and then lift the knee
and relax down breathe out lift the knee and relax down and I'm already starting
to get a little bit of a burn in that hip
so the last exercise I'm going to teach you is a rectus femoris stretch which is
one of your quad muscles now this is really aimed at posture and realigning
the pelvis so we begin by lying on the floor
lie on your side and take the top leg and pull it back so you should feel a
good strong stretch down the front of your leg there in the quad now with this
bottom leg instead of having it straight which allows a lot of extension through
the back and really starts to create compression there rather than stretch in
the front of the hip and the quads we're going to bring this up to pretty much
like a 90 degree angle here so that's going to take all of that hinging out of
the lower back and it's going to throw the stretch into the quad itself just
holding this you can reposition yourself in order to really create a stronger
stretch there obviously doing this on both sides and it can be held for two to
three minutes really the longer the better with these sorts of stretches the
exercises we've just done are a really good start to relieving your lower back
pain I'd suggest doing them on a daily basis for a week and if this gives you
the relief you need then using it as a maintenance tool a few times a week if
your pain doesn't subside then my advice would be to seek professional help
because you're going to need more specific treatment and specific
exercises for your particular issues there's a link to my website in the
description below I'm happy to answer questions in the comments subscribe for
more great videos and tips thanks for watching