In this video, i’m going to show you how to fix a tight lower back in 30 seconds. Stay tuned, hey everyone, dr rowe, from spinecare in saint joseph michigan. So if you’re dealing with an achy tight, locked up, stiff, lower back and need a quick fix, this is a video that you’re not going to want to miss. I’M going to show you safe and effective, lower back stretches and exercises that may give instant relief, even in as little as 30 seconds. The great part is, you can do all of these at home, i’m not going to be using any special equipment other than an everyday racquetball. You can get these locally at a sporting goods department, they’re very inexpensive they’re about a dollar a piece. So i’m going to break this down into an easy three-step process, we’re going to focus on getting rid of muscle knots. First then, we’re going to stretch everything out, get the lower back moving and then i’m going to show you a strengthening exercise that will hopefully get rid of lower back tightness for good. So let’s get started with them and get the lower back feeling better right now. So in the first part, let’s focus on getting rid of those muscle knots, those muscle spasms in the lower back – that’s causing a lot of tightness, i’m going to lay flat on my back and go up to a door with this one. You might find it easier to wear shoes because you’ll have a little bit more grip. I position myself where my knees are bend at 90 degrees and my heels are going to be pressed firmly against that door. Let’S take the racquetball and go over to the side in the lower back that you feel, like you have a lot of muscle tightness. Maybe there’s a big muscle knot right there, you just simply place the racquetball over the spot of muscle, make sure not to go over the spine only over the spot of the muscle itself and then just rest. Your body weight upon that pull your arms off to the side, just like this with it just try to roll back and forth with your body weight over that spot and do a nice self massage for up to 10 to 15 seconds. You should start to feel that lower back muscles start to release at that point, getting rid of a lot of tightness. You can also go up and down with it, you can just go in different motions, but once you feel that muscle not relax, what you can do is just move it up and down or switch sides and just target those spots too. Let’S say that you have one spot: that’s just really really not releasing. What you can do is put both legs down like this, and what i’m going to do is position the ball over that spot and i’m going to lift whatever side that you’re on this leg. Up like this kind of like a knee to the chest, and then i’m just going to rotate over towards that side, what you’re going to notice is that it puts a little bit more pressure into that spot. Only go to your comfort level hold that for about 10 to 15 seconds, relax and then just repeat up to five times or until you feel that muscle tightness really start to go down and then from there switch to a different spot as needed or towards the Other side: next, let’s focus on building mobility into the lower back and loosening up stiffness and tightness. With some really easy stretches. These stretches i’m going to show different ones that are going to focus on different muscle groups that are commonly associated with lower back tightness and pain, so make sure to go through all of them and go with the ones that you feel are the most effective. This first one we’re going to build a little bit more rotation into the lower back. You can do this one in bed or on the floor. What i’m going to do lay flat on my back and i’m going to bend the knees like this feet are going to be flat. What i’m going to do next is take my arms, put them up towards the ceiling elbows straight and put them together, like i’m. Almost going to clamp my hands right here, so the movement is a two-part process, i’m going to take the knees and i’m going to take them one way, while my arms and my upper back goes in the opposite direction, so you’ll see what i’m going to do Right here, taking the knees towards my left, while my arms kept straight, go towards the right and when you do this you’re going to feel a very good amount of stretch into the lower back. Go to the point where it feels like a very good stretch. But it’s not causing discomfort once you hit. That point hold this for about two to three seconds you just relax and then you’re going to repeat it on the opposite side, two to three seconds, come back up to the middle and then go towards the opposite side. When you do this, you may feel a pop crack or click into the lower back. If that happens, that is completely normal. It’S just gases being released in the lower back, but you want to try to do this about 10 to 12 times on each side. So, moving on from there, let’s focus a little bit more on the hips and the pelvis, because there’s a lot of issues from there that can cause lower back tightness and pain. So we’re going to start on our back and what i’m going to do is what’s called the 90 90 stretch. Let’S put our legs about shoulder-width apart, feet are going to be flat. What i’m going to do is i’m going to lower both of my legs down like this to the point where the hip, the knees and the ankle are at 90 degrees, keep lowering them down towards the bed or towards the floor as much as you can. You should feel a very good stretch into the back: the legs around the glute, the hip and the lower back actually just got a nice little release right. There hold this one for 15 seconds, come back up and then you’re just going to go on to the opposite side, really trying to bring those knees down as much as you can. Only to your comfort level, though, holding 15 seconds coming back up and then, when you go on the opposite side, try to bring the legs down just a little bit more to get a better stretch into the lower back and you’re going to want to do this. Five complete times on each side, it’s wonderful for getting rid of hip pelvic and lower back tightness. So this next lower back tightness stretch is a modified yoga pose called the child’s pose and you’re going to want to do this. One on the floor, we’re going to start off on the knees put a thick towel or pillow, underneath your knees for comfort. If you’ve never done this stretch, it’s wonderful! It’S going to focus pretty much from the shoulders all the way down into the lower back. You may feel it even down to the tailbone if the muscles are that tight, what i’m going to do is i’m going to go on all fours like this and then outstretch my arms as much as i can, when you do this, you should already start to Feel a very good stretch into the upper back and what i’m going to do from there is i’m going to start to lower my butt down towards the heels, and what i’m trying to do is really keep the arms straight like this and then from there. Let’S tuck our chin towards our chest, the further that you go down, the more that you’re going to feel that stretch into the lower back almost like a good pulling traction. This really opens up those joint spaces and stretches those muscles out. If you can hold this one for 15 seconds, that’s a good starting point, but try to work your way up to 30 seconds, possibly even up to a minute only to your comfort level, really just focus on nice, slow, controlled, breathing. Let the tension out that tightness will start to follow and then from there i’m just going to relax, and then i’m going to repeat this up to three to five times or until you feel that lower back tightness really start to go away. The second part of this and how we’re going to focus on let’s say a one-sided tightness. Is this: let’s go off to one side. So i’m going to angle my upper body towards the right kind of like going towards that way and then i’m just going to repeat this stretch and when you do this you’re going to feel a very, very good stretch on the opposite side. So when i’m angled towards the right, i’m really feeling it on the left. Try to do this again up to 60 seconds, if you’re able to and then just relaxing and repeating up to three to five times from there switch to the other side. Even if it doesn’t hurt just do it to keep the muscles in balance and repeat that same process, wonderful for hitting the whole back from the upper to the lower. So this next one is a compound stretch that hits a lot of muscles that are associated with lower back tightness, including the piriformis and ql or quadratus lumborum muscle, let’s start off on the floor and get into a figure four position just like this, so your leg Should look like the figure four keep one knee bent like this, and you want the whole leg flat against the floor as possible. The foot is going to be just firmly against the other leg. What i’m going to do from there is take the hand on the opposite side of the bent knee i’m going to place it on top of the knee and then the other hand just rest on the floor like this for comfort, let’s get in good, upright posture. Again make sure to keep the knee flat, i’m going to just rotate towards the opposite side. As far as i feel comfortable. Actually, i just got a nice crack in my back right there, it’s very common to get releases in the lower back with this stretch. So if you do get one again, it’s just gas being released once you feel a very good stretch. You hold this one for 10 to 15 seconds, you’re just going to relax and then you’re going to repeat this up to five times and each time you do it try to go a little bit further with it. So this is how we’re going to take it to the next level. With this stretch, once i get to that point, i’m going to then take my hand off the ground and i’m going to then bend towards the opposite direction. This is going to activate that ql or quadratus lumbora muscle, so you’re, bending towards the opposite side. Very good stretch hold this one for 10 to 15 seconds you’re just going to relax, try to build a little bit more rotation in there and then just bend towards the opposite direction. Only to your comfort level. Try to do 10 to 15. Second holds four five times and then from there just simply switch to the other side and repeat so without a doubt. If we’re looking to get rid of lower back, tightness and stiffness for good, we have to strengthen the muscles around the lower back, including the legs, and i know everybody doesn’t like doing exercises. So i want to give you one. That’S super easy and simple: there’s no excuses with this one we’re going to do a modified uh, lower back bridge exercise, so you can do this one in bed or on the floor. Let’S lay flat knees bent and our feet are going to be flat against the bed or the floor. What i’m going to do is just simply lift my butt up like this and to the point, where my knees, my hips and my shoulders are going to be in a nice straight line or straight as possible. When you do this you’re going to feel the core muscles, the lower back, the glutes buttock and the back the legs firing it’s helping to strengthen and stretch all of these. At the same time, it’s pretty good huh. You want to hold this one starting off for 10 seconds work, your way up to 15 30, possibly even longer, if you feel comfortable, but once you need a breather, just relax and then repeat this one up to five times. If this one becomes too easy, what you can do from there is do a marching step like this, and you want to hold this for about five seconds. You’Re just going to relax and go on to the opposite side. Try to do about 10 to 12 repetitions of this on each side. It’S really going to challenge those muscles, especially into the legs, lower back and glutes. If this one becomes too easy, what you can do from there is then straighten the leg up like this, which will activate the hamstring and for me, this one’s pretty hard. So i hold this one again for up to five seconds, i’m just going to relax. I’M going to lift the other leg up like this straighten it to really activate the back. The leg holding five seconds try to do 10 to 12 repetitions of this great way to hit all of those muscles, strengthen and stretch them all at the same time and hopefully give some quick lower back tightness relief, maybe even in as little as 30 seconds. If you liked the video and got a lot of relief, please show us your support by giving this video like and maybe subscribing to our channel too. If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below i’ll get back to you as soon as i can. Thanks for watching
