Your spine is made up of 33 individual vertebrae, which are separated by intervertebral discs and held together by ligaments. Your back and abdominal muscles--your erector spinae and rectus abdominus respectively--along with your obliques located around your waist all work together to control the movements of your spine. Perform these simple but effective exercises on a daily basis to keep your back mobile and in good working order.
Prone Lying
To stretch out your back, lie on your stomach with your legs extended. Hold your chest off of the ground by placing your elbows on the floor with your forearms extended in front of you. Your elbows should be directly beneath your shoulders. Keep your chest up, your shoulders down and relax allowing gravity to pull your abdomen toward the floor. Focus on your breathing and imagine your spine relaxing a little more every time you exhale. Hold this position for 30 seconds, increasing the duration as you become more comfortable with this stretch.
Hump and Hollow
Position yourself on all fours with your shoulders over your hands and your hips over your knees so that your body forms a box shape. Breathe in and lift your butt and head to form a hollow back shape, which will exaggerate your natural spinal curves. Breathe out and drop your head and butt and lift your mid-back up toward the ceiling, forming a hump. Alternate between the hump and hollow positions in time with your breath to mobilize your spine.
Quadruped Twists
To stretch your oblique muscles at the side of your spine, adopt an all-fours position with your knees below your hips and your hands below your shoulders. Slide your left hand under your body and reach as far as you can, rotating your spine as you go. Turn your head and shoulders as you reach under your body. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat to the other side, reaching under your body with your with your right hand. Continue alternating sides for the desired number of repetitions.
Quadruped Side Bends
To stretch and mobilize your waist and lower back, position yourself on all fours in a quadruped box position. Keeping your hips still, slowly walk your hands around to the left side of your body until you are looking behind you. Slowly walk your hands around to the right until you are again looking behind you. Continue walking your hands from side to side until you feel that your spine is fully mobilized.
Supine Twister
This exercise is a more advanced version of the quadruped twist exercise. Lie on your back with your knees bent to 90 degrees and directly above your hips. Roll your knees to the left and toward the floor while turning your shoulders and arms to the right. Hold this stretched position for two or three breaths and relax further into the stretch each time you exhale. Slowly roll your legs and shoulders in opposite directions to repeat the exercise on the other side.
References
- "Sports Injuries: Their Prevention and Treatment, Third Edition"; Per Renstrom PhD MD; 2007
- "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance"; Stuart McGill; 2004
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