In this video, I'm going to show you how to self pop your
whole back for instant pain relief. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I'm going to go over
mobility exercises that may end with a satisfying self pop or
release pretty much throughout the whole back. As a side note,
these are not chiropractic adjustments. They do not
replace chiropractic adjustments. These are just
general mobility exercises that are geared towards giving quick
pain relief, tightness relief, and improving range of motion.
So, with that being said, let's get started and self release
the whole back. Right now, one of the hardest spots to get to
self release or self pop is at the base of the neck into the
upper back. So, here's a neat trick to be able to help with
that. I'm going to be using a hand drying towel. Just roll it
up if you don't have one. You can also use a water bottle,
even a can of soup but we just need to lay flat. You can do
this one in bed or on the floor. You want the towel to be
over the curve of the neck. Allow everything to relax. You
want to relax as much as possible because this will make
this extra sides more effective. Let's say that I
have a lot on my left side. Whatever side that you're
focusing on, take that side's arm, bend the elbow at 90°,
lift up on your body like this and then slide the arm towards
the other direction as much as you can. From there, you can
lower your body. What this will do is relax a muscle known as
the upper trapezius. Let's take the opposite sides, hand grab
on the outside of the head right here and just simply pull
that ear down towards the opposite side shoulder. When
you do this, you're going to feel a great stretch. only go
to your comfort level but if you do have a locked up segment
into that area, you'll probably feel a pop or self release but
do not try to force this. only go to a comfortable stretch.
Once you get to a comfortable stretch, hold this one for
about 15 seconds. You just relax from there. Try to drive
the arm over even further and then bring the ear down towards
the shoulder. You can do this up to five repetitions and
again, if it's ready to go, it will probably pop. So, here's
how we can take that last exercise and turn it into the
anywhere stretch. This one is perfect to do at work because
you can do it standing. What I'm going to do, stand with
very good upright posture. Whatever side that we're
focusing on in this case is going to be my right. I'm going
to take that arm, bend the elbow at 90°, and then just
slide it across the lower back like this as far as I can. This
again will help relax this muscle right here, the upper
trapezius. What I'm going to do from there is take the other
hand, place it on the head just like this. And then I'm going
to take the opposite sides ear towards that shoulder so my
left ear goes down towards my left shoulder as much as I can
and again, if this feels like it's locked up, you'll probably
feel a sudden pop or release into that area of the upper
back into the base of the neck. Hold this comfortably for about
ten to 15 seconds. From there, just relax and then on the next
repetition, try to reach over even further and bring that ear
down even further to help open it up even more but you just
want to do this one nice and comfortably for about complete
repetitions and whatever you do on one side, always switch to
the other to keep them both in balance when it comes to the
upper and middle backs, the thoracic region, you want to
focus on backward extension to get it to open up. For this
exercise. You can use one of several things. The first being
a one liter water bottle. You want one that's a little bit
more thick and it's a little bit longer too. You can use a
can of soup or my personal favorite, take two tennis
balls, place them in a sock. What you want to do is just
pull them out like that. Twist it like that, tie it and at
that point, you have a great tool because your spine is
going to be able to sit in here and it's a little bit more
comfortable. So, I'm going to be using this right here but if
you do use a water bottle or a can of soup, make sure to use a
towel and place over it like this for extra comfort. So, to
get into position, let's start off on the floor and I'm going
to just put that tennis ball or if you're using the soup can or
the water bottle, place it over the level that you feel is the
most tight and a achy. So, once we get into that spot, let's
take our hands just like this and I'm going to place my hands
on the back of my head. I'm going to wing the elbows down
towards the floor as much as I can. A simple variation of this
is just to bring the elbows down as much as you can and
then lift your butt up into a bridge like position. What this
is going to do is it's going to put a lot more pressure your
body weight into the area over the tennis balls or the soup
can and you'll probably feel it just self release but you can
roll up and down from the upper back all the way down to the
middle back but do not go over the lower back because that
could cause irritation and when you do this, you might feel
some snaps. you might feel some pops and clicks but just do
this nice and slowly up and down completely for about three
to five repetitions. If you find that one spot just is not
wanting to release and it's just really painful or tight
and achy. Let's stop over that area. What I'm going to do from
there is keep my butt on the floor. I'm going to wing my
elbows back as much as I can and I'm also going to draw my
head like this. This will put the back into more extension
and you should feel a great stretch over the tennis balls
or the soup can try to bring that down as much as you can.
This will help open it up and hopefully get that self pot
that you're looking for. You can also do a variation where
you bring the head down like this. Put the arms up straight
like this and then just lower them down as much as you can
but if you still feel like it's not wanting to pop, just simply
lower the hands down quickly like that into a passive
stretch and you might find that that is enough to get it to
self release. You can also do that method like this, bringing
the head down and then winging the elbows back but don't try
to force it only go with a gentle stretch and if it's
ready to go, it will go. So, here is a two-part method
that's really going to help open the upper and middle
backs. pretty much anywhere You can do this when standing and
we just need a door frame. In the first part. Let's do a
simple door lean. So, I'm going to put my feet together. I'm
going to start in what I call the Y position. So, my hands
and arms just go up like this towards the the door frame in
AY position. I'm going to then just lean into the doorway like
this and it's going to feel like a great stretch. You'll
feel it into the chest. You'll feel it in between the shoulder
blades. Also lean forward as much as you can. Once we hit a
very comfortable stretch, Hold this one for about 15 seconds.
When you do this stretch, you might feel an immediate pop or
release. So, what we want to do from there is then go into what
I call the field goal position. So, I'm just going to do the
same thing. Lean forward into it. It's going hit the muscles
and the joints in the back just a little bit differently. So,
again, you might get that to finally self release but hold
this one for about 15 seconds, relax and then go into what I
call the W. So, just lower the elbows down like this and then
repeat whatever one you feel hits it a little bit more or
you feel like it's going to help self release the back,
throw some more repetitions in there but if you still feel
like it's locked up and it just does not want to release this
is how we can take it to the next level. In the second part,
let's say that I have a lot going on to my left, it feels
very locked up. What I'm going to do is get into a scissors
lunge stance just like this. I'm going to take that sides,
arm, bend the elbow at 90°. The arm is going to go flush
against the door frame. I'm going to then lunge into it
like this and again, you're going to feel a great stretch.
Really try to focus on lunging forward as much as you can.
From there, what I'm going to do is I'm going to then turn my
body in the other direction. What this will do is put very
good rotation into the upper back across those ribs also. so
you might get that to finally self pop but really try to
focus on rotating the opposite direction as much as you can.
Once you hit a very comfortable stretch, hold this one for
about 15 seconds. From there, relax, take a breather and then
on the next repetition, drive forward even more to get a
better stretch and then really try to turn the opposite
direction again and hold this one for 15 seconds up to five
repetitions and whatever you do on one side, always switch to
the other to keep them both in balance when it comes to self
releasing or self popping the lower back. I find that the
corkscrew exercise is the easiest and most effective. We
just need to lie flat on our back in bed or on the floor.
I'm going to show this in two variations. The first
variation, I'm just going to raise my legs up like this.
Knees are going to be at 90° and I'm just going to grab onto
the side of the floor or the bed and then just rotate my
knees towards one side as far as I can. Go down as far as you
can and once we hit that position. Hold this one for
about 5 seconds. From there, slowly come back up and then go
towards the other side as far as you can. When you do this,
you're going to put a lot of good movement into the lower
back. So, you want to do this one for about five to ten
repetitions. You're going to notice that each time you do
it, you have a little bit more range of motion and this is
going to help just take a lot of tightness out of the back
and you might find that with one certain repetition that
lower back will finally just self release or self popping.
It might be immediate but you just want to do this one nice
and slowly with each repetition. Again, try to go
down a little bit further with it. For the next one. What I'm
going to do is whatever side that we're focusing on, let's
take the other side. So, in this case, I want to do my
right. I'm going to straighten my left leg and I'm going to go
towards the edge of a bed. What I'm going to do from there is
put my leg at 90°. Again, I'm going to take the hand closest
to the edge of the bed right here. Grab on the outside of
the bent knee. So my left hand is grabbing on the outside of
my right knee. I'm going to just use my other hand to
stabilize by grabbing onto the bed like this. From there, what
I'm going to do is I'm going to lower that knee down as much as
I can and you're going to feel a great stretch into the lower
back. Really focus on lowering that down as much as you can.
From there, what I'm going to do is straighten the arm on the
other side and then turn my head and my upper body all the
way in the opposite direction. This will give us that
corkscrew of and this is a very deep stretch into the lower
back and you'll probably feel it self release, click or pop.
Hold this position for about 10 seconds. From there, you're
just going to relax, take a breather, and then repeat this
one up to five times with each repetition. Try to drive this
knee further downwards and rotate the upper body and head
in the opposite direction and when you're done on one side,
always switch to the other to keep them in balance. In this
part, let's focus a little bit more across the Pm into the SI
joints or those sacroiliac joints. I'm also going to be
using my two tennis balls in a sock If you don't have this,
you can also use a can of soup with a large towel over it or
you can use a foam roller. What I'm going to do is go next to a
door or a wall and place my feet against that door with my
knees bent in 90°. I find that this is easier to do with shoes
on because you'll have a little more grip. Let's take our
tennis balls right here and I'm going to place it pretty much
at the top of the cheeks or just a little bit below my belt
line and I put it right over the center and then I'm just
going to allow my upper body weight to just rest downwards
onto that. You can put your hands behind your head like
this or you can just put them to the side whatever works and
is little bit more comfortable for you. What I like to do
first is just a basic pelvic tilt. So, to help out, let's
put our hands on our hips and then just rock it forward and
backwards. This will cause the area of lower back, the pelvis
to roll over those balls and it usually pretty good. Just do
nice, slow controlled motions up and down and sometimes if
that SI joint is locked up with this motion, you might get an
immediate pop with it but I like to do this for about ten
to fifteen times up and down and from there, I'm going to go
side to side, just rock side to side and you can control the
amount of pressure by just pushing your body weight into
the balls and from there, I just do a hula hoop motion just
nice and slow and you can do a counter clock wise and then
switch to clockwise to hit it at a little bit of a different
angle. If it still feels like it's locked up, Let's do this.
Let's take our feet off the wall just like this. Put our
legs together and then rock them from side to side very
gently and this right here usually gets those SI joints to
open up so you might get a quick pop and I just like to do
this one nice and slow from side to side for about five to
ten repetitions. From here, you can also switch the ball over
different locations. Let's say that you have a little bit more
off to the right and you can do this exercise again and target
the spots that needed just a little bit better but it's just
an easy way to go in there. Put some good motion across the
pelvis and hopefully get a nice satisfying snap pop or release
into the pelvis and SI joints. So, here is a really easy way
to get the SI or sacroiliac joints to self pop or self
release pretty much anywhere you can do this one right at
work. We just need to be in a a chair, I'm going to start off
with very good upright posture. This is an isometric exercise
so it's not going to feel like you're moving that much but
it's actually going to work a lot in the lower back and
pelvis. start off with the knees right here in line with
the hips in a nice straight line. From there, what I'm
going to do is take my hands, place them on the outside of
the knees. I'm going to drive my knees outward but I'm going
to resist with my hands. So, you want to do this one and try
to really press into the hands as much as you can for seconds.
From there, you're going to relax, take a breather, and
then repeat this up to five times. Here's the knee part.
So, let's take our hands, put them together, put them in
between the knees, and do the opposite drive inwards and I
don't know if you just heard it over the microphone but I got a
very good release into my right SI joint. so, I just bring the
knees in again just like this and do the opposite exercise.
So, I'm going inwards holding this one for 5 seconds,
relaxing and then repeating up to five times. If this does bug
your hands, you can put a small pillow or towel in between your
legs instead but this is just a very easy way to really open up
those SI joints and you'll probably get that knuckle crack
sensation that you're looking for. If you like the video and
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