Have you had Low Back Pain?

Low back pain is a common complaint. Almost everyone has had low back pain in their life time and we generally accept it as inevitable, but why? Why accept it when there are simple and easy things you could do on a daily basis that can eliminate back pain.

Let us start with the anatomy of the lower back. The low back sits on the pelvis which houses our center of gravity (The fused sacrum vertebrae S2) .

It also is the spot where our body goes from 2 limbs, our legs, to one, our torso. Our body needs to get clever on how it does this. In the design of our structure, our joints are meant to move. This jiggle helps our body deal with the impact of movement or force. The jiggle or joint play gives us our ability to be dynamic and responsive. When we don’t have that play, we become rigid. Rigidity causes the forces that should travel through our skeleton to get stuck. This force, often gets stuck, in our low backs.

Here are a few moves you can do to give you back your joint play and relieve some of your back pain. Stay tune for more tips each week and Join us for a Whole Body workshop: Relieve Your Back Pain Saturday February 23rd 11:30pm $45 + hst Sign up here

Hip Circles

Purpose: To loosen the thighbone in the hip socket

Starting Position: Lying on your back with core support. Knees are bent and pelvis is in a neutral position

Movement: Lying on your back with your right knee bent and a theraband around your knee or just your hand, left leg bent resting on the ground, engage your core support and lift your right leg. Begin to circle your right leg sinking the thighbone with each circle. Focus on smoothing out the circle and moving towards the midline more that away from the midline.

Repeat on other side.

What to watch for:

ü Keep neck and shoulders soft and easy

ü Keep pelvis still as you move the leg

Supine Ribcage Rotation

Purpose: to mobilize the thoracic spine Position: lying on your back with knees bent, neutral pelvis

Movement: With fingertips pointing to the ceiling and hand together lined up with your breastbone, inhale and slowly rotation right getting heavier on your right shoulder blade and lighter on your left. Stay heavy on the left hip. Exhale and come back to center.

Breath: breathe freely throughout the movement Repetitions: Repetitions Repeat rotation both ways for 5 repetitions then only rotate to the right for 10x

What to watch for:

✓ Remember to keep abdominals engaged to support neutral alignment in the ribcage and the pelvis throughout the exercise

✓ Do not allow shoulders to lift off the mat

✓ Keep hands, breastbone and eyes all focused on the same spot

✓ Keep hips steady. If your hips start to move, stop rotating your ribcage.

✓ Keep both waist lines long

Try out thees simple exercises to get the play back into your joints. Want more? Join us for a Whole Body workshop: Back Pain Saturday February 23rd 11:30pm $45 + hst Sign up here