Helpful Stretches for a Healthy Back!

Today I will be discussing a handful of easy to do and very important stretches to help keep you limber and healthy between your chiropractic appointments! 

Hey everybody! It's Dr.Bob here with Lowcountry Chiropractic with another exciting blog dedicated to your body and your lower back. I hope everyone is staying safe and well out there. Today, we are going to be talking about stretches dedicated to the lower back and the lower part of your body. A lot of patients come in with complaints about lower back pain, stiffness, tenderness, and other similar issues.  I will be discussing some very simple and effective stretches today that everyone can do to help with this kind of pain, no matter if you're working at home on your computer, on a construction site, or in a traditional office setting. If you add these stretches into your life every day, they can help save you and prevent you from injury. These stretches help if you have a job that requires you to lift heavy things. One thing I will say though before we get into today's blog, these stretches are not a substitute for chiropractic care. Chiropractic care and stretches are two different things. Stretches are meant to elongate your muscles and keep them toned and loose so they don't seize up and pull the vertebrae out, irritate the nerve, and cause a subluxation. If you have a subluxation, the stretches aren't going to fix the subluxation, which is what I'm here for! 

I want to give you four main stretches to use every day. These are stretches that I give to my patients all the time. The first needs to be done in the morning before you get out of bed. This is especially for my readers who wake up very stiff in the morning and it takes time to straighten up and out of bed before you can get moving for the day. This stretch is wonderful, so I recommend you giving it a chance and see how your body improves over time when adding it into your schedule! 

• You need to begin by laying on your back. 
• Your knees will be pulled up towards the ceiling with your feet flat on the mattress.
• Your head will need to be resting on your pillow.
• Take both hands and grab one of your knees and pull it into your chest and hold it there for about ten seconds, or longer if you want.
• Keep your other leg up, do not straighten it out. Straightening it out will put a tremendous amount of stress on your lower back.
• Once you've held one knee for at least ten seconds, switch to hold the other knee. 
• Once you've done each knee by itself, you are going to pull both knees up to your chest and hold them there for at least ten seconds. I like to cross my ankles when I do so. 
• When you're holding both of your knees, you want to pull them into your chest as best as you can to get the best stretch out of this position as possible.
• Please remember when you're doing this, that you want to think about what you're trying to accomplish with this particular stretch. Your lumbar spine has a natural curve to it. Most injuries occur because of stress at the back of the disc or the back of the bone. So, you never really want to extend and rotate when you stretch because that movement can hurt you. This movement closes the spacing in between the bones in the back, pinching things down. All of the exercises we will be talking about today are flexion exercises, which means you're bending forward which opens up the back discs, lets all of your spinal fluid flow freely, and stretches your muscles at the same time. I would recommend doing this particular stretch four or five times in a row, a set is holding each knee once and pulling both knees in your chest.
• This stretch is also great to do when you get home from work or when you get done for the day if you're working from home, and also great when you go to bed at night! 

This second stretch is for people who sit a lot. There are a lot of people out there who sit for hours during the workday, which can be particularly hard on the body. You should be doing this particular stretch every half hour or so, maybe even more. Don't just sit in the same position all day hunched over your desk and your computer. When you sit there for hours, everything begins to tighten up. Gravity settles down into your discs and it's not a healthy situation. So, what can you do? Very simple! Stretch! 

• Get into a comfortable seated position, sitting upright with your feet on the floor.
• Reach down and touch your toes and let your body hang out there for a bit, letting gravity do its thing. 
• Sometimes I take a deep breath while I'm leaning over and touching my toes, and then blow out. This will give you an added moment of relaxation. 
• Hang out in this position for about ten seconds, or more if you choose.
• Once you do this, stretch to either your right or left side while you're still leaning over. This will stretch the opposite side of your back that you're leaning away from.
• Once you've stretched in one direction, switch to the other side.
• Take this stretch nice and slow, and please do not bounce your body while leaning over or moving from either side.
• Leaning forward and to both sides is one set for this stretch, and you will want to repeat this stretch four or five times.

This third stretch is my favorite! I do it before and after I go to the gym, before and after I run, and I do it before and after I need to lift something heavy. This is a perfect stretch for anyone out there in the construction field who is lifting anything heavy. Please make sure to do this stretch along with all the stretches we've talked about today. If you add all of the stretches we will be talking about today into your routine, you're going to prevent a lot of bad injuries. If your muscles are looser and then you put weight on them, they're going to handle it a lot better compared to if they were wound up and tight. You can do this next stretch multiple ways, either by leaning onto a desk or chair or carefully balancing without one. 

• If you don't have a chair or desk to hold onto, carefully get into a squat position. 
• Bend down and let yourself hang there between your legs. Gravity is going to take over when you do this. You're not doing a lot of work, you're just going to be hanging out and letting your body be stretched by gravity. 
• Hold this position for about ten seconds. 
• After this first ten seconds, lean to either your right or left side and stretch it out. Once you lean to one side, lean to the other. 
• Repeat this whole process at least 4 to 5 times! 
• If you have a desk or something to hold onto to do this stretch, you can change up your stretch a bit. Hold onto the piece of furniture and lean back into your squat and then stretch your body forward. It is a very similar stretch, but you will just get a deep stretch that you can control by leaning onto a piece of furniture.

Stretch number four is a stretch called a child's pose. The child's pose is a yoga stretch. Some of you may be familiar with this, and if you are, you know what a wonderful stretch this is! 

• First, you need to get down on your hands and knees. 
• Sit back into your knees, you're going to try and touch your rear end to your feet.
• While keeping your rear end and feet touching, you want to move the rest of your body down and as close to the ground as you can get it, with your arms straight out in front of you.
• Elongate your body once you reach this position. 
• Hold this position for at least ten seconds.
• After this first ten-second hold, bring one arm in and keep the other stretched out in front of you. This stretches the muscles from your armpit down to your waist. 
• After holding in one arm for ten seconds, switch with the other arm. 
• After going through these steps, you'll want to repeat the process another 4 to 5 times. 

These four stretches are amazing for your lower back. While we are talking stretches today, I want to give you a few more simple stretches to add to your everyday life to help stretch out your piriformis muscles. The sciatic nerve goes through the piriformis muscles, so sometimes it is easy to blame sciatic pain on your lower back when it is coming from the piriformis muscles. When this happens, your piriformis muscle has tightened up and is squeezing that sciatic nerve, and that is not good! These next two stretches are to help you work on your piriformis and your psoas muscles, which are your hip flexors. The hip flexors are attached to the front of your hips and back in your lumbar spine. Sometimes you can get lower back pain and it's actually related to your psoas being tight. To stretch your piriformis muscles: 

• Lay on your back with your knees pulled in and your heels on the ground. 
• Take one leg and pull it up, putting your ankle of one leg on the knee of another, making a triangle shape with both legs. 
• Reach in between your legs, and grab the back of your knee, and pull it towards you. 
• This action will stretch the muscles of the opposite side that you're pulling on.
• To stretch even more of your muscles, your going to take the opposite arm of the leg that's up and over your knee, and pull it towards that side, while the hand of the leg that is up will be laying at your side to steady you. 
• Do this on both sides of your body! The tighter side is the one that you will want to spend more time stretching. 

You can stretch your psoas muscles in many different ways, but today I am just going to give you a few options on how to stretch them. 

• Sit up in a chair with one leg crossed over your knee, with your ankle sitting on top of that knee. 
• Keep your back very straight and you are going to push down on the knee of the leg that is crossed. Push it into the floor.
• Do this for ten seconds on both sides a few times. The side that is feeling tighter needs to be stretched longer. 
• You can also stretch the psoas by getting into a lunge position.
• Once you're in the lunge position, lean forward and right into the floor with the leg that is in front. 
• Keep your back very straight when you do this, do not arch your back! 
• Do this with both legs at least 4 to 5 times! 

All of these stretches are good basic. every day, effective stretches. They are effective if you keep up with them and make time for them in your busy schedule. if you don't do them every day, they won't help you as much as they could. Now that you have this blog as a reference point, there aren't any excuses not to do them. However, let me reiterate, these are stretches. This is not self-prescribed chiropractic care. These stretches will help you, but if you have a subluxation in your spine, you won't be able to stretch it out. When you have a subluxation, that is when you need to call me! If you're suffering out there and you need relief from the pain in your lower back, are experiencing sciatic pain or other pain, make sure to look us up, come find us, and we will be happy to help you in every way we can! I'm Dr. Bob, and remember, I've got your back covered! Until next time, take care!