This is another great exercise to help with low back pain from Leeds chiropractor Alison Eaves at Revive Chiropractic.
This one is the cat-camel, great for relieving tension and loosening up the spine. You can either watch the video “Exercises for Back Pain 2 : Cat Camel” 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. the upward phase: as you breath out gently stretch and arch your spine upward using your abdominal muscles to gently push the spine up towards the ceiling.
4. hold for a few seconds and relax back to neutral
5. the downward phase: using abdominal and low back muscles gently tip the tailbone up towards the ceiling and allow your abdominals to sink slightly towards the floor. Your shoulder blades should be pulled downward slightly towards the lower part of the back.
NB If you are experiencing mid back pain it is okay to use the whole of the spine in this movement and not just the very lower part of the back. You will fund that on the upward phase you can flex the head and neck gently so the chin is moving towards the chest and this will increase the stretch. Any questions about modifying this stretch just ask!
To see the video that accompanies this post either click on 2) ” Cat-Camel on the right or copy and past the following link:
