3 Exercises to Strengthen the Lower Back | Chiropractor for Nerve Pain in Belmar, NJ
Hi everybody, today we’re gonna do some more lower back strengthening exercises. Often I will put patients through a whole regimen. I get their lower back corrected, the nerve interferences gone, but they’re deconditioned in their core which tends to throw the lower back out again. So strengthening exercises are so important and I always prescribe strengthening exercises to any of my lower back patients.
The Bridge Exercise
Okay, so the first one that we’re going to do is called a Bridge. So my patient is Allison, she’s got her feet flat on the floor, knees bent up, and back flat. Initially, what you’re gonna do is turn your pelvis in a little, and then lift your whole back off the ground. So that’s going to strengthen-up the muscles in here, her glutes and her abs. This is going to really tighten the whole core unit and now drop it down. And then you’re going to breathe and do it again. So every time you take a breath, you’re going to exhale and come up. And then inhale, come down, and exhale, come up. We’re gonna do that about 5 to 10 times. I would hold it for a nice deep breath each time and do that at least twice a day.
The Plank Exercise
So we’re gonna do some Planks next. Planks are where you really use a lot of your core muscles in the back and front. We’re going to start with you on your elbows first, and we’re going to modify and just start on your knees. So just come up to a plank position, flat back, tighten the core, kind of tighten the glutes, and you can stay on your knees. If it’s too hard for you to do this then you’re just going to drop your belly down and start by just pushing yourself up, but ultimately, you want to get this whole hip straight off the ground. Once you’re good at that and you’re holding each of these Planks for a good 10 seconds, come back down, you can breathe through it the whole time, you’re going to push all the way up. Now I would like to see you push all the way into a push up position. If that’s too hard on your wrist, you can come down on your elbows again, but on your toes, not on your knees. Really get the whole body off the ground, which tightens up all of this and really helps with tightening and strengthening your core front and back. Your back muscles are important, but we want to tighten the front too. Deconditioned fronts, will put more stress on your lower back.
The Cat & Cow
Then the last one that I want you to do is up on all fours. Now that the initial stretch you could do is just a simple Cat and Cow. So drop your head down and roll your back up, and then you’re going to arch your back down and lift your head up. This is called a Cat and a Cow and this just kind of stretches you out. Come to neutral spine. Now first thing I want you to do, just to get your balance, is raise your right arm up while you’re in this all fours position. Go drop it down and now do the left, get just getting your bearings. Now you’re going to drop it down. Now do your right leg, straighten the leg out first, just the leg, still strengthening all of this up, then drop it down. Now the goal is to do this all together. So you’re going to do the right arm and the left leg at the same time, which really tightens and strengthens the muscles through here. And now you’re going to do the opposite. I would try to do at least 5 each side, 10 of these a day.
These are all really good strengthening exercises for the lower back. So do this because if you’re deconditioned you’re only going to put more stress on the lower back. Okay, Dr. Jodi signing off, I’ll see you soon!
