hey everybody it's doctor Jo and the pups yeah! and today I'm going to show you
five ways to crack your back. so let's get started
so when I say crack your back, in the
therapy world that means manipulate your back, or adjust your back. some people
even call it aligning your back, but most of you know it is crack your back. but
it's important to know you really need to know what's going on with your back,
what your specific diagnosis is because certain diagnoses you should not crack
your back. so don't just go out and crack your back. it's really important to know
what is going on with your back and it's probably best to have had it adjusted at
least once by a healthcare professional before you try it on your own. so once
you know what you have and it's okay to adjust your back or manipulate your back,
one of my favorites is using just a small foam roll. and the reason for that
is because the foam roll is not super hard not super firm. it gives a little
bit, but it's going to give you enough to be able to get that adjustment that you
need. when you're going to roll back onto the roll, make sure you kind of cross
your arms like this, and what this does is it gets those shoulder blades or the
scapula out of the way. you can do it this way,
but this way it kind of gets it out of the way to kind of open up that spine so
you can get right to it with the foam roll. again you can do it a couple
different ways with the foam roll. one way you can do it is just find the spot
where you need to adjust it and just kind of lean back onto it like this. and
you can move as you go and get those cracks if you need to. some a mine will
and then some once I crack them then they won't crack again. you can also just
roll and I'm getting a couple cracks there on it, but one of my favorites to
do is actually turn the roll at a slight angle because in our spine where those
little processes stick out, if you go at an angle you're going to get this one
this way and that one that way, so I like putting it a little bit of an angle when
I roll as well. and I feel like that gets a nice pop. and you can go both ways that
each angle if you want to. another really easy
one to do, if you don't happen to have a foam role, is just kind of get your legs
out in front of you, which we call long sitting and then this is also a little
bit of a piriformis stretch and erector spinae muscles in your back, but you're
just going to cross one leg up and over and then you're gonna bring your elbow
to that outside knee and then just do a little push that way. so sometimes that
will give you a nice little adjustment as well if it's not really stuck in
place. and you can switch and do both sides if you want to, and so that's a
pretty easy way to get it. sometimes the next one is really just what I call an
egg roll. and so you're gonna lie down on the floor and kind of hug your knees
together and tuck your chin in. and just kind of roll back and forth like that.
and that will a lot of times get some cracks in your back as well. it's a
little bit harder, so you have to be pretty flexible to be able to do that.
and before I go into the next ones, I want to thank some people in my wall
things. so Cindy C., Jim H., and Scott R., thank you so much for supporting my
channel and being on my wall of thanks. if you're interested in being on the
wall, make sure you click on the link in the description below to find out how. so
then the next one's gonna be sitting in a chair. so another pretty simple one to
do is sitting in a chair. so all you're gonna do is just rotate your upper body
trying to keep your lower body in one spot. so if there's armrests, sometimes
you can grab on the armrests. if there's not, you can grab on the edge and you're
just gonna do a quick twist. when you go back, and I got a little pop there, it
wasn't loud, and then just a little pull that way. usually if you get to the end
range and then do a really quick just pop like that, that will get you the pop,
but you don't want to come back and twist like that you want to get to that
end range, and then just do just a little pull to get that adjustment, or that
manipulation, or that crack. so the last one's gonna be on a Swiss ball. Oh
where's my Swiss ball? there it is! so if you have a Swiss ball, or a therapy ball,
or stability ball, again it works nice kind of like the foam roller except it's
just even usually a little a bit more squishy. so if you're not
looking for a big pop, if you're really just kind of looking to stretch out the
back and maybe get a little bit of pops along the way, this works really nicely
as well. so you can just kind of get it on it, make sure you're very careful with
Swiss balls because they are very unstable, so make sure you're safe while
you're doing it. and then you're just going to kind of bring your arms up and
let your body relax. if you want to roll along it a little bit you can, but if you
just want to sit here and relax and get that nice stretch after maybe you've
done some other adjustments that is it's really nice too, and sometimes
you'll get one or two more at the end. yeah! so those were five ways to crack
your back. if you'd like to help support my channel, make sure and click on the link
up there, and don't forget to subscribe, Where? down there. and remember be safe,
have fun, and I hope you feel better soon. I know.