Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in St. Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, I'm going to show the best exercises to quickly
realign the spine. So, if it feels like your posture is off
like you're starting to tilt or lean towards one side,
definitely check this video out because what usually causes
this are muscle imbalances including tightness that just
pulls everything out of alignment. These exercises are
going to focus on releasing that tightness bringing
everything back into better alignment, better balance, and
quickly improving our posture.
Each exercise differently.
They're going to target different muscles, different
areas of the back. To get the best results, go through them
all and use what works best for you. With that being said,
let's get started. This is the wall lean exercise and it's
really good if you notice that you're having a little bit of a
tilt or lean in your back towards one side.
The trick
with this exercise, whatever side that you're leaning
towards, you want that side facing a wall or a door. So,
I'm going to demonstrate what to do if you're leaning towards
your right. The first thing that you're going to do is take
the arm on that side, bend your elbow at 90 degrees and place
your forearm flush against the wall or the door. Have your
shoulder and elbow pretty well in a nice straight line. I'm
going to walk back with my feet to the point where I'm able to
comfortably lean my body weight into that door or the wall and
I also like to have my feet together.
From here, I'm going
to take the hand on the other side, place it right over my
hip. Now, slowly press your hips towards that door until
you feel a deep but comfortable stretch forming in your hip
that works towards your back. You're going to hold this for 5
seconds, release it. On the next repetition, go up just a
little bit with your hand, maybe an inch or two and then
repeat.
You're going to notice it stretches the back a little
bit differently. So, keep repeating this over and over
again working the whole length of your back until you go over
the rib cage all the way upward towards your armpit. When you
do this, you're going to notice that one certain position like
right here for me, just stretches at the best, really
attacks that tightness in the back. At that point, I up over
that spot and keep repeating this over and over again until
everything is nice and loose or I'm not getting any more
improvement and for good measure, I would switch the
other side and throw a couple repetitions in just to keep
everything imbalance. Here's a really good exercise that we
can do seated. Start off by making fist and then pressing
them together with your thumbs pointed towards the ceiling.
When you do this, you're going to feel a lot of muscles across
the back start to fire.
We're going to hold this and now
slowly tilt or lean downward towards one side lowering our
shoulder towards the floor. As you do this, you're going to
feel a deep stretch form on the other side. So, what I like to
do is start by building into this to the point where I feel
a good stretch in my lower back and then just lower down a
little bit more til it works towards the middle back even
upward towards my shoulder blade.
Hold this comfortably
for about 5 seconds and then what you're going to do is back
off slightly. Release that stretch maybe 25 to 50% but
Keep a little bit of a stretch in there. Take a breather for
about a second or two and then what you're going to do is
build back into that stretch deepening it as much as you can
but just keep doing this over and over again for about five
to 10 repetitions and then from there, you're just going to
switch to the other side and repeat. I like to do this whole
cycle for about two to three repetitions on both sides but
when you do do this, you're probably going to notice that
going towards one side just the best stretch. It's really
attacking tightness, achiness, maybe even pain in your back.
At that point, I like to build into that position and really
take this one to the next level. So, let's say that I get
the best stretch going towards my left. What I'm going to do
at that point is slowly twist or rotate towards the other
side until I feel a really good stretch forming on the other
side of my back.
We're going to hold this and now lean
downward. You're going to notice that your back opens up
a little bit again it's going to target more muscles so just
keep building into that and just once you do get that
comfortable stretch hold that for five seconds relax about
2550% and just build into it for five to 10 repetitions and
for good measure I would do this on the other side also
just to help keep everything nice and loose so here's one of
my favorite ways to realign the spine this is called the
standing puppy and also we need is a wall or a door let's start
facing it and get pretty close you're going to take your arms
and hands and reach overhead is as you can and during this
exercise, treat your hands like suction cups so you don't want
them sliding like this.
What I'm going to do from here is
just walk back a little bit with my feet to the point where
my body is tilted or leaning a little bit away from the door.
I like to have my feet roughly hip width apart and then I
place all my body weight onto my heels. The movement from
here very straight forward. We're just going to bend our
knees and then squat our bottom down and away from the door.
The more that you squat down, the more that you're going to
feel a deep opening stretch in your back. Build into this as
much as you can and then hold it for 20 to 30 seconds and
during that time period, do nice, slow, controlled
breathing. Just let out as much tension as you can. Just relax
by standing back up like this and then repeat this three to
five times. To take this one to the next level and really focus
on improving our posture and realigning the spine, this is
what we can do.
So whatever side that you're leaning or
tilting towards, what you always want to do is stretch
the other side. So, this right here will help straighten our
back. I'm going to demonstrate what to do if you are tilted
towards your left. So, let's get back into our original
position just like this but I'm going to slowly start to lean
my upper body, my shoulders towards my right. Just to the
point where I feel a light, comfortable stretch on the
other side. At that point, I hold this position and now, I
squat down.
This will quickly deepen that stretch so build
into this one as as you can. Hold it for 20 to 30 seconds,
release it. On the next repetition, try to deepen that
stretch a little bit more by leaning over there and just
keep repeating this over and over again until everything is
nice and loose or you're not getting any more improvement.
So here's one of the best exercises to help realign your
lower back and your hips especially if you feel like one
hip is higher than the other. What usually causes this is
because of a blend of weakness and tightness. On the low side,
you have a lot of weakness On the high side, you have a lot
of tightness that throws everything out of balance. So,
what we want to do first is identify which side is high and
which side is low.
A really easy way to be able to tell is
to take two fingers on both hands, place them right on your
belly button, and then trace off to your side. You're going
to run into two big pelvic bones. What you want to do is
trace the top of those bones and then look in the mirror.
The odds are one side is going to be higher, one side is going
to be lower. For this exercise, we're going to focus on the low
side. So, I'm going to demonstrate what to do if your
right hip is lower. Let's go right next to a step or a stair
and place the high side's foot right at the edge, low side's
foot off like this. Now, keeping your body nice and
straight. What you're going to do is drive that low hip upward
towards the ceiling as much as you can. You're going to feel a
deep activation into the muscles around the hip working
into your lower back.
Once you feel that, hold this
comfortably for five seconds and then release it but what
we're going to do take this one to the next level is now lower
our heel downward towards the floor but don't let it touch
instead let it hover an inch or two above or go down as far as
you can what you're going to feel is a deep intense stretch
form on the other side so we're going to strengthen the low
side by going up and stretch the other side by taking that
foot downward again hold that for about five seconds release
it take a breather and then repeat this whole cycle about
five to 10 times in both actions. Afterwards, see how
you feel. If it feels like you have a little bit more energy,
always challenge yourself by throwing in another set or two.
Here's a really easy exercise that we can do in bed or on a
floor.
Just start with your body in a nice straight line.
With this one, whatever side that you may be leaning or
tilting towards. You want that side on the bottom. So, I'm
going to demonstrate what to do if you are misaligned and
leaning a little bit towards your left. From here, I'm going
to support my upper body on my forearm just like this. My
elbows bent roughly at 90° and what I like to do is press my
shoulder upward as much as I can so there's a little bit of
space in between my rib cage and the bed or the floor. From
here, I'm going to take the hand on the other side and
start right near my belt line. I'm just going to start by
pressing my hips downward towards the bed or the floor.
As you do this, you're going to feel a light stretch form on
this bottom side.
So, just build into this one as much as
you can. Hold it for about five seconds and then release it. On
the next repetition, just go up a little bit more and then
repeat. Doing this the whole length of your back all the way
towards your armpit. As you do this, you're going to find that
one certain spot just offers the deepest stretch. Maybe it's
even attacking tightness, achiness, or pain. At that
point, I stop over that spot and then press and hold it for
a little bit longer. Go more towards 20 to 30 seconds.
Release it and then just keep repeating that over and over
again until everything is nice loose or you're not getting any
more improvement and for good measure, I would flip over on
the other side and throw a couple repetitions in just to
help keep everything nice and loose.
If the exercises help,
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