This is another great exercise to help with low back pain from Leeds chiropractor Alison Eaves at Revive Chiropractic.
This one is the quadruped, great for working the gluteal muscles and working the trunk muscles (core) to give you strength and control to maintain correct posture. You can either watch the video “Exercises for Back Pain 5 : Quadruped by clicking on the link or read the instructions that follow. Some people like to read how to do something, others understand better with visual examples and either is fine.
1. On the floor get into an all fours position with your knees underneath your hips and the crease of your wrists directly underneath the shoulders with the fingers pointing forwards.
2. Engage your core and abdominal muscles by gently pulling your belly button towards the middle of the back but allow the spine to stay relaxed. You can think of it as a corset or belt tightening around your waistline.
3. Slowly lift the opposite arm and leg off the mat. Straighten your leg out behind you and bring the alternate arm straight forwards in front of your face.
4. Repeat slowly on the other side. Aim to keep the pelvis as level as possible; the only movement should be from the arms and legs.
5. Aim to stay as relaxed as possible ensuring you are looking down at the floor and the neck is relaxed.
6. Repeat 8 times on each side.
Tips
If you keep falling over you may be trying to lift the arm and leg on the SAME side, remember it is left leg and right arm, right leg and left arm!
If you are still having difficulty then don’t lift the arms and legs so far off the ground, you can start with small movements and slowly build the movement.
To see the video that accompanies this post either click on 5) “Quadruped on the right or copy and past the following link:
