Learn how to properly stretch and strengthen your back muscles and spinal column to increase exercise tolerance and protect yourself from injury. The main reason for the appearance of pain in the back is insufficient flexibility of the spinal column and a weak muscular corset. Strength training is essential to strengthen your back muscles. But stretching the back and spine will help to increase flexibility and mobility, we will tell you about the exercises for this today.
In addition, stretching exercises for the back and spine will allow you to speed up the lipolysis processes. This is due to the fact that you activate the lymphatic system, and also increase the speed of blood flow in the fatty tissues. By stretching your back, you will forget about pain and will be able to relieve fatigue.
When to do stretching exercises?
It is very important to do your back and spine stretching exercises at a slow pace to avoid injury. You can do this gymnastics regardless of age. Here are some of the main positives that stretching your back will bring you:
- Prevention and treatment of various diseases of the spinal column.
- Reduction and elimination of back pain.
- Increase the flexibility of the spine and the whole body.
The spinal column is designed in such a way that a person must stretch it. All elements of the spine require daily stretching, especially with a passive lifestyle. In this case, the deformation of the spinal column is possible even during sleep, if you are lying in an uncomfortable bed or on a soft mattress. After such a dream, your body will not fully recover, and you will not feel cheerful.
Often, a person immediately after waking up sends to work and this negatively affects not only the spinal column, but the entire body. Scientists are confident that we should take a closer look at the behavior of animals that never rush into the maelstrom of daily worries after waking up. Pay attention to your pet, cat, or dogs. When he wakes up, he first stretches and slowly arches his back. This kind of exercise is very beneficial for the whole body.
In order for your spinal gymnastics to be as effective as possible, several basic rules should be followed:
- You should breathe evenly, without interruption.
- If you hear a crunch when doing back and spine stretching exercises, start doing them more smoothly.
- Full stretching of the spinal column is carried out in the evening, but when sedentary work, you must periodically do simple exercises.
- When doing back exercises, you should relax.
Stretching exercises
- Exercise "Cat-camel". To perform this exercise, you need to get on all fours and begin to slowly bend and arch your back. In this case, it is necessary to do this gradually for the upper, middle and lower parts of the spinal column.
- Body turns. Take a supine position, and bend your legs at the knee joints, placing your feet on the ground. Stretch your arms to the sides, and cross your legs, as if sitting on a chair. Begin to turn your hips to the right if the leg of the same name is on top and vice versa. It is also necessary to inhale and exhale every four seconds.
- Turns the body back. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. From this position, make turns to the right and left.
- Squats. Take a standing position with your feet at the level of your shoulder joints. The feet must be slightly turned outward. Begin to squat and when your hips are parallel to the ground, inhale, hold in this position. Place your hands on your knee joints and start pushing your right leg with your hand. After exhaling, turn the body to the left. After returning to the starting position, repeat the movement in the opposite direction.
- Position "Mermaid". Take a sitting position on the ground, bending your knees and turning them to the left. Raise your hand up while exhaling at the same time. Hold in this position for 30 seconds. Then repeat in the other direction.
- Seated forward bends of the body. Get into a sitting position and stretch your legs forward. Raise your arms up as you inhale. Then, exhaling, begin to tilt your body forward, as low as possible.
- Turns of the body. Take a supine position with your legs bent at the knee joints and lift them up. As a result, a right angle should form between the hip and knee joints. Begin to turn your legs left-up-right. In doing so, it is important to ensure that the shoulder joints do not come off the ground.
- Exercise near the wall. Lean against the wall with your shoulder blades, coccyx and head. Hands should be raised to the level of the shoulder joints, bending the elbows at an angle of 45 degrees, and the palms facing forward. Begin to slowly raise your arms as high as possible, but at the same time do not tear off the tailbone, head and shoulder blades from the wall. Then slowly return to the starting position. The exercise should be performed in 8-12 repetitions. When pain occurs in the shoulder joints, the number of repetitions must be reduced.
- Rotation of the body while sitting. Take a sitting position and stretch your legs in front of you. Bending your right leg at the knee joint, cross it with your left thigh. Then it should also be bent at the knee joint. Hold in this position for half a minute.
Swimming is a great way to stretch and relax your spine. When a person is in the water, the working muscles relax, and the sleeping ones tense. Also, a large number of exercises for stretching the back and spine exist in yoga.
It should also be said that there are two types of back stretching: active and passive. When using passive stretching, external influence is necessary, say, massage. When active, the whole body is strained, and a certain group of muscles is stretched.
After completing the above set of movements, you need to take a lying position on the ground, stretching your arms along the body and relaxing your body. It is necessary to tighten the muscles gradually, starting with the face and moving towards the legs. Stretching with a roller can also be very effective, which will not only increase muscle tone, but also accelerate the lipolysis process. To do this, you need a hard roller or a plastic water bottle. The abdomen should be on the chair, and the roller (plastic) bottle should be placed between the pubis and the navel. Your arms should hang down freely, and you only need to rely on the hoop of the legs. You need to be in this position for about 60 seconds.
How to stretch your back during working hours?
Perform a few simple movements every 90 minutes.
- In a sitting position, with your body relaxed, begin to tilt your head to the sides.
- The starting position is similar to the previous movement, but the head must be tilted forward, trying to reach the chest.
- Take a standing position with your arms down. Tilt your head back as far as possible.
As soon as you feel discomfort in your back at work, you can do side stretching. All this will allow you to significantly increase your performance.
For more on stretching the spine, see this video:
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