Hey,
I've compiled some stretches you can do in your office/room to help relieve your lower back tension/pain.
Several of these stretches are taken from yoga so if you already do yoga, you might find them familiar.
I hope this is helpful to you!
1. Cat and Cow Pose |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Get on your fours (hands and knees) – shoulders over wrists, hips over knees
- Let your spine sink in (chest closer to the floor), while breathing in: apparently this is how a cow eats
- Hold the position
- Now arch your back away from the ground while breathing out: this is like a cat arching up to look bigger
- In relation to the ground, your spine is concave at step 2, and convex at step 4
2. Child’s Pose |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Kneel down: Knees are shoulder width apart, both your feet soles are facing away from the ground (that means your toes aren’t supporting your weight)
- Bring your butt down to your heels
- Bring your forehead to the floor (or as close as you can get)
- Let your belly touch or come close to your thighs
- Your arms can either rest by the side, relaxed OR stretch forward (as far away from your feet as possible)
3. Legs Up The Wall |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Get a pillow (or roll up a towel/blanket until it’s as thick as your fist)
- Find a wall!
- Place the pillow about
one hand away from the wall
- As you place your butt on the pillow, lie your upper body on the ground
- Adjust your hips and butt such that the back of your thighs comes into contact with the wall
- Your legs should straighten and lean against the wall
- Your tailbone should be dropping into the gap between the pillow and the wall
4. Supine Spinal Twist |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Lie flat on your back
- Raise your legs to the extent that your hips are slightly above the ground
- Bend your legs such that they form a 90 degree angle, knees stuck together
- Spread your arms flat and wide, fingers and palms pressed onto the floor
- Slowly and gently twist your hips to the right side. The side of your right knee will be close to, if not touching, the ground
- If your left shoulder lifts off, that’s fine. Do keep both shoulders as flat (to the ground) as possible.
- Hold and take deep breaths
- Slowly recover and raise your hips and knees to face skyward
- Repeat steps 5 to 7 for your left side
5. Cobra Pose |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Lie flat on your stomach
- Place hands by your chest, palms facing down
- Raise and straighten your arms, while arching your back. Your hips, thighs and feet (soles facing sky) are in firm contact with the ground.
- Finally, extend your neck to face the ceiling and stretch it too Hold the position
- To recover, either lie back down so you can repeat the stretch… Or raise your hips up slowly to table pose to exit and get up.
6. Knee To Chest / Seated Knee To Chest |
GIF 1 /
GIF 2Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Lie flat on your back
- With one leg bent (knee raised), cross over the other leg to form a figure 4 with both legs
- See how there’s a hole formed between your legs? Put one hand through it and the other hand on the outer side of the grounded leg
- Use both hands to grab the thigh of the grounded leg
- Use both hands to raise and pull the legs toward your chest
- Hold the position and stretch To stretch the other leg, repeat steps 2 to 6 for the other side
7. Standing Lower Back Stretch |
GIFStep-by-Step Instructions:
- Stand straight, and place palms behind your hips
- Lean your back slowly while keeping your head aligned with your spine, pushing your hips forward to counterbalance
- Arch your spine until you start to see the ceiling (or even the people behind) Slowly return to the standing position
- Alright, that is all for now! Once again, let me know if there’s anything I can improve on.
Just wanted to add that more exercises to help back pain can be found here. I’ve compiled 32 of them here in this blog post.
I removed your link because you ask for email addresses. We don't allow that on this forum.
Sherrine Post Edited By Moderator (Sherrine) : 2/20/2017 6:02:13 AM (GMT-7)