Exercises for Back Pain
4 : The Side Bridge
This is another great exercise to help with low back pain from Leeds chiropractor Alison Eaves at Revive Chiropractic.
What is a side bridge?
This one is the side bridge, so called as you lie on your side, push your bum/pelvis into the air and make a bridge. Like the other low back exercises, it works on your core strengthening but specifically the quadratus lumborum(QL) muscle, one of the deep back muscles. The QL muscle is very important in spinal stability and so the side bridge should be an essential component of any low back rehabilitation plan. The side bridge is also a great catch all exercise for working a variety of upper and lower back muscles.
You can either watch the video “Exercises for Back Pain 4 : The Side Bridge” 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.
How to do a side-bridge:
1. Lie on your side on the floor/mat supporting yourself on your elbow. Make sure your elbow is under your shoulder and the forearm is perpendicular to the body.
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. With your knees bent to begin with, raise the hips upwards so that there is a straight line from your hips to your ankles.
4. Hold for a couple of seconds and then lower to the starting position and repeat.
You should perform this exercise 10 times on each side. As you get stronger you can increase from one set of repetition up to 3 sets on each side.
Finding the exercise too easy?
Then straighten the legs! This will make the muscles work harder.
To see the video that accompanies this post either click on 4) “Side Bridge” on the right or copy and paste the following link:
