Limbering up your back first thing in the morning gets the blood flowing to feed your muscles, moves lymph to remove waste products that cause pain and softens the connective tissue that restricts movement. This is the toning and stretching routine I give out at my Neuromuscular Therapy center near Boston. Best done in bed before you get up and start using your muscles, it takes only ten to fifteen minutes once you’ve learned the routine and practiced it a few times.\u00a0 Please pay attention to the details. They are important.<\/p>\n
1. Hip hike:<\/strong> Lying down, bring one hip up toward the shoulder, keeping the hips flat on the surface (floor or bed) and contracting the waist muscles on that side. Lower that hip and raise the other hip upward in the same way.\u00a0 Alternate doing at least 10 hikes on each side.<\/p>\n 2. Single knee-to-chest:<\/strong> Lying down, bend one knee and bring it up to your chest.\u00a0 Using both hands, pull the knee closer to the chest with your hands or arms clasped behind the knee where it bends. Exhale and stretch for 1-2 seconds. Return the leg to the surface, and repeat 10 times.\u00a0 (Do both sides.)<\/p>\n 3. Double knee-to-chest:<\/strong> Do the same as #2, but bring both knees to your chest at the same time. Contract your belly muscles to try to raise your hips up off the bed or floor.\u00a0 You should feel a pull in your low back.<\/p>\n 4. Drop-over trunk rotation:<\/strong> Lying down, bring your knees to your chest and extend your arms out to each side for support.\u00a0 With the knees together and keeping your shoulders flat against the surface, drop both knees over to the side, rotating the trunk (upper body above the waist) until you feel a pull at waist level.\u00a0 Stretch for 1-2 seconds and bring the knees back to your chest. Repeat to the other side and alternate 10 times on each side.<\/p>\n 5. Gluteus (buttock) stretch:<\/strong> Do the same as #2, except bring your knee to the opposite shoulder.\u00a0 You should feel the pull in your buttocks.\u00a0 Stretch both sides. If you want to go deeper to stretch the piriformis, hold your knee to your shoulder and reach for your ankle with the other hand. Pull your ankle toward the bed or floor. Exhale and stretch for two seconds, release and repeat 10 times.<\/p>\n Repeat the hip hike here if your back still feels tight.<\/p>\n 6. Cat and cow:<\/strong> Turn over onto your hands and knees.\u00a0 Tip the pelvis\/hips and pull your navel inward as if you were trying to touch your back with it. Tuck your chin to your chest. This will arch-round the back like an angry cat.\u00a0 Focus on the lower back and let the rest of the back follow. Exhale and stretch for 1-2 seconds.\u00a0 Then tip the pelvis the other way to sag your back like an old cow and stick out your bootie. Bring your chin upward and stretch for 1-2 seconds.\u00a0 Focus on working the lower back.\u00a0 Repeat 10 times.<\/p>\n 7. Hip waggle:<\/strong> Now wag your hips like a dog wagging its tail.\u00a0 Do it slowly, stretching for 1-2 seconds in both directions so you can feel the stretch on each side of your waist and ribs. Repeat back and forth 10 times.<\/p>\n 8. Seated trunk stretch:<\/strong> Sit on the edge of your bed or on a chair, perching on the edge with your knees apart.\u00a0 Reach down for your ankles.\u00a0 Pull your stomach toward your lap to stretch for 1-2 seconds.\u00a0 Return to an upright position and repeat 10 times.\u00a0 If this is painful, support your back by putting your hands on your knees, lowering yourself using your arms then pushing yourself back to upright. Your goal is to bring your torso between your knees.<\/p>\n 9. Seated twist:<\/strong> Sit up straight and put your left hand on the outside of your right knee or thigh. Put your right hand on the seat right behind your right hip. Pull against your thigh with your left hand as you push up and away from your seat with your right hand to assist the twist. Exhale and hold for two seconds. Release to your original position. Repeat 10 times on each side or alternate back and forth.<\/p>\n 10. Standing side bends:<\/strong> Stand up and place your palms on the sides of your thighs.\u00a0 (Pick a point in front of you to watch so you don\u2019t twist your body when you bend.)\u00a0 Reach down your thigh toward the knee as far as you can. Exhale as you stretch for 1-2 seconds. Return to an upright position and side bend to the other side.\u00a0 Alternate, repeating 10 times on each side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Limbering up your back first thing in the morning gets the blood flowing to feed your muscles, moves lymph to remove waste products that cause pain and softens the connective tissue that restricts movement. This is the toning and stretching routine I give out at my Neuromuscular Therapy center near Boston. Best done in bed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13,27,46],"tags":[823,113,829,842,399,847,860],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-back-pain","category-chronic-pain","category-low-back-pain","category-active-isolated-stretching","tag-back-pain","tag-blood-circulation","tag-chronic-pain","tag-low-back-pain","tag-lymph-circulation","tag-neuromuscular-therapy","tag-stretches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4478,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions\/4478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbottcenter.com\/bostonpaintherapy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}