This video, I'm going to show you how to fix lower back
cramps in 30 seconds. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
some great exercises that can give quick relief for muscle
tightness throughout the lower back. This includes muscle
spasms, cramps, trigger points... you name it. All of these
exercises, they work just a little bit differently. Go
through them all, take what works best for you. As a bonus,
they can all be done at home and may give quick muscle
tightness relief, even in as little as 30 seconds! So, let's
get started and fix those lower back cramps right now. When I
get muscle spasms and cramps in my back, one of the first
things that I'd like to do is what is known as the peanut
method. It gets its name because what I'm going to do is
take two tennis balls, place them in a sock, twist it and
then tie a knot so it kind of looks like a peanut. Why this
works so well is because you're going to have a groove in
between the two balls that you can place the spine in between
and it really hits muscles very well. I like to do this one
next to a door or a wall. I just lay flat on my back, my
hips, my knees will be in a nice straight line. Knees bent
roughly at 90° and I'm going to press my legs into the doo.r I
tend to find that using shoes with this exercise too makes it
a little bit easier to do because you'll have more grip
but you can also do this one barefoot. So let's take our
peanut tool and I'm going to place it right at the lower
part of the lower back, right at the belt line. I'm going to
position my spine again in between the grooves of those
two balls. The nice thing with this is that you can use legs
to control the amount of pressure being placed over the
two balls so press down into it until you feel a very
comfortable self massage but not causing any discomfort. Just
put your head down like this too. What I like to do in this
position, if it feels like it's very tender is just put
pressure down into the balls and then hold this one for
about 30 seconds. if it feels pretty good you can hold it for
longer up to a minute or longer. Just grab a book, iPad, iPhone
anything like that just take your mind off of it. You want to do
nice, slow, controlled breathing also. From there, you
can move the tennis ball over different spots like you can go
up with it pretty much all the way to the top of the lower
back. Notice if one spot just feels a little bit better with
it and throw more repetitions and at that point and always
challenge yourself to drive your body weight down with your
legs right here because it will offer a little bit more of a
self massage into those muscle knots, spasms, and trigger
points. What I like to do from here is add a little bit
more dynamic motion in there to help activate the muscles a
little bit more and get better results. So, let's put the
tennis ball, our peanut tool, right over the pinpoint spot
that you're having discomfort. From there, I'm going to press
down into the balls and then I'm going to take my hands,
place them on my hips like this. We're going to do a
pelvic tilt. That is just rocking our butt kind of like
this like tucking the tailbone up towards the ceiling and then
rocking it downwards. This will cause the back muscles to over
that peanut tool and it usually feels really really good. I try
to do this for about 10 to 15 repetitions just nice and slow
and trying to press down into the balls as much as I can.
From there, I'll just move over different spots as needed. You
can also do a one leg wall march, I should say. So, I'm
going to take my hands, place them right on my hips, and then
take one leg off the wall like this. You'll notice that it
hits the back just a little bit differently and more pressure
will be put over the peanut off one side so hold this for about
15 seconds, relax, and then repeat as needed. I try to do
about five to 10 repetitions. I also will try to do it on the
other side but again if you notice that one certain
movement or one certain leg off the wall or the door hits it a
little bit better throw some more reps in at that point and
then just switch the ball over different spots. From there, you
can really take this one to the next level by taking your legs
completely off the wall. So let me position it kind of just
like this. I'm doing a knee to the I'm just taking my legs,
putting them together, and then bringing them towards my chest.
From here, you're going to get a lot of pressure over the spot
of the peanut tool. Again, if this feels pretty good, you can
hold this for about 10 to 20, I should say 15 to 20 seconds.
From there, you can relax, take a breather, and then just
simply repeat this about three to five times. You can also
do a twisting motion with it. Taking it from side to side
like this and it will really engage a lot of muscles in the
lower back. So, give this one a try also. Go to one side, hold
it for about two to three seconds, come back up, and then
just switch to the other side. Do this for about 10 reps on
both sides. Experiment with all of those motions, in different
placements of the peanut tool and I really hope that that
helps get rid of those muscles, I should say those tight
muscles and spasms very quickly. Here's a wonderful
exercise that can quickly tackle tight, achy muscles
including cramps and spasms and help unlock stiff, achy joints
in the lower back. I call this one the scorpion twist. It's
best done on a floor. What I'm going to do is start off on all
fours like this. My arms are roughly shoulder width apart.
I'm going to put my legs, my knees together just like this.
The first movement is really easy. We're going to do a
rotational movement with our lower body by rocking it to one
side while we keep our upper body stationary. So, we're only
moving through the hips, the butt, and the pelvis. Go over
as far as you can. When you do this, you're going to feel a
lot of muscles activate into the back, into the hips and to
the pelvis. So really focus on feeling it. Try to hold this
right here for about 10 seconds. From there, you're
just going to come back up and then do it on the other side.
When you do this, you may notice that you get a sudden
pop, crack, or self release into the lower back because it
puts just a lot of good motion throughout the back in there, so
that is quite common, but just do this one nice and slow. With
each repetition, try to stretch into it just a little bit more.
I try to do this for five repetition on both sides. From
there, we're going to go into the scorpion and take this one
to the next level. So, I'm going to just lie flat on my
stomach just like this. I'm going to support my upper body
on my elbows and forearms like this. I usually just put my
hands together. Let's tuck the chin towards the chest and I'm
going to put my legs together and then by or bend my knees
roughly at 90 degrees. From here, I'm going to do a very
similar motion. I'm going to rock my lower body only while
keeping my stomach all the way to the upper back flat towards
one side. You'll feel a lot of muscles get stretched with this
one from the back all the way down to the legs. You want to
hold this one for about five seconds. Come back up and then
just simply repeat on the other side. Try to do this one for 10
to 15 repetitions and always stretch into it just a little
bit more to get some more motion into those joints and
hopefully loosen up the back muscles just a little bit more.
The last movement is known as a press up stretch, or a cobra. So
it's very easy to do. I'm going to start in this position again
and from here, I'm going to keep my hips to my legs
completely flat and I'm going to pull my arms off to my side,
tuck my chin like this, and then press upwards. Again, we
want to keep our hips and pelvis flat while doing this.
This motion puts extension into the back, a backwards movement.
Takes a lot of pressure off a spinal disc that might be
causing lower back pain. You want to hold this one for about
15 to 20 seconds doing nice, slow breathing. When you need a
breather just come back down like this but I try to do this
one for about five repetitions always stretching into it just
a little bit more making sure not to raise our hips like this
but keeping them flat and hopefully all of these
movements right here will really tackle a lot of back
tightness and get you feeling better quickly. So here's a
great exercise that you can pretty much do anywhere because
we can do this one standing it's known as the ballerina
stretch. It's going to focus on a very commonly overlooked
muscle that gets strained, it can cause cramping and
tightness which is known as the QL or quadratus lumborum. So,
let's start with very good upright posture to begin with.
I'm going to focus a little bit more off to the right with this
one. Whatever side that you're having more discomfort, take
that leg and just place it over the other leg just like this.
From there, I'm going to take the hand on the opposite side.
So, in this case, it's my left. I'm going to place it on my
left hip. What I want to do is drive my left hip over. So, I'm
pressing from my hand into my hip towards my right. You'll
already start to feel a very good activation of the muscles
into the lower back. So, try to get that initial stretch to
begin with. From there, I'm going to take my right hand,
bend my elbow like this, place it overhead. The movement is
very easy. I'm going to lean towards my left while my left
side presses over towards my right. So, it kind of looks
like this and when you do this, you'll feel a very deep stretch
off to the side right here pretty much from the rib cage
all the way down into the hip. If you really good. Go towards
a very deep but comfortable stretch. You want to hold this
one for at least 20 to 30 seconds. Do nice, slow,
controlled breathing also. From there, you can relax, take a
breather. On the next repetition, try to stretch into
it more. Always challenge those muscles because it will help
loosen that tightness up. Do this for 3 to 5 complete
repetitions and then just simply switch to the other side
to keep them both in balance. Without a doubt, one of the
best ways to not only get rid of muscle spasms and cramping
but also prevent it in the future is to strengthen
everything in (and around) the lower back. One of the better
exercises is known as a door or a wall dead bug. It's going to
focus on strengthening the core, lower back, hips, pelvis,
legs, all the good stuff that supports the spine. Let's lay
on our back just like this. Rest your head down. I'm going
to bend my elbows roughly at 90 degrees. Make this and then
push them into a door or a wall until I start to feel my core
muscles start to engage. We want that initial engagement of
the core muscles. From there, I'm going to lift my legs up
like this. My hips and my knees are in a nice straight line. My
knees bent roughly at 90 degrees. I'm going to press
into the wall or a door and then I'm going to slowly
straighten one leg and just take it downwards towards the
floor. The key with this one though is not to let your calf,
heel, or leg touch the floor but just let it hover a couple
inches. When you do this, you're going to feel a lot get
activated into the lower back core muscles throughout the
hips and legs. I try to hold this one for about five
seconds. From there, I just relax, take a breather, and
then do it on the other side. You want to do this one nice
and slow. It's all about control, coordination, and
really stabilizing those muscles. Try to do this for
about 10 to 15 repetitions. From there, you can take a
breather. If you feel like you have a little bit more energy,
try to throw in another set or two. Always challenge those
muscles but is just a good way to really focus on building
good muscle strength in the back and hopefully avoiding
future tightness, spasms, and cramps. If the exercises helped,
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