Simple Stretches for Low Back Pain Relief | Chiropractor for Low Back Pain in Belmar, NJ
Hi everybody, today I’m going to do some simple stretches for the lower back. If you are an office worker, or if you sit most of the day, part of the problem is people who sit all day get absorbed into their computer and kind of bend and slouch in the lower back. Over time, they realize that they’re so stiff and their backs so sore, it’s hard to get up from a seated position, and there’s just way too much stress on the lower back. So what I’m going to show you is three stretches that you can do when you are at your desk.
The Rational Stretch
Okay, so the first one is just a simple rotation stretch. You’re gonna sit yourself all the way back, so your knees are to the back of the chair, and try to have a chair that has a back on it, not a stool. What you want to do is sit tall and twist your upper body around, so your knees are gonna stay straight, but your upper body is gonna go into a twist. That way you feel the stretch in that lower back and spine. You’re gonna breathe into the stretch a good five to ten deep breaths, going one way. And then you’re gonna come back to neutral, take a breath or two, and then stretch your body around the other way. Now, you don’t want to bend, you don’t want to slouch. You want your spine to be upright and tall. And you never want to hold your breath. So five to ten deep breaths and you want to belly breathe into these stretches, so you feel like it’s wringing that lower back out.
Bent Over Floor Touch
That’s number one, number two is just a simple bend over and touch the floor. So you want to separate your knees a little bit, and you want to try your best to palm the floor. So and then drop your head into it. So this will give you a nice stretch in the lower part of your spine. That will open up the spine just as you’re seated. So you should do both of these seated. And again, you want to hold each of those stretches for about five to ten deep breaths through your belly. Next we will do our third stretch.
The Lateral Stretch
So this stretch you can do kneeling, but a lot of times, balance wise, this can be a little difficult. So what you’re going to do is you’re going to put one foot in front of you, and the leg that’s in front of you, you’re gonna raise the opposite arm up and stretch into that direction. So you should be able to stretch laterally on the side of that lumbar spine. Same thing, breathe into it, and then you’re gonna go the other way. You raise the arm up and just laterally stretch into the into the direction that your leg is, so into the right and into the left. Again, you know, a lot of twists. You don’t want to bend backwards, you just want to go directly sideways lateral bend back into the stretch, breathe into it. Again, you should feel all the muscles on the lateral side of the lumbar spine.
Do these stretches every day, several times a day, if you have lower back pain sitting at your desk. Hope that helps, start to stretch out more!
