This video will show you some back strengthening exercises with a Swiss ball. Many different things can cause back pain. You can get back strains or sprains, and it can even be more severe like a herniated disc or spinal stenosis. You might even be diagnosed with big scary words like spondylosis or spondylolisthesis. It is very important to have good posture while performing these exercises. The Swiss ball or therapy ball is a great way to work your core muscle and gain good trunk stability. It doesn’t take much to get a good workout on one of these! Make sure you are holding your abdominal muscles in or contracting them while you are exercising, or you might fall off the ball. Sitting on it with good posture is a workout in itself.
The first exercises are going to be doing a series of pelvic tilts. You want to make sure you are moving just at your hips. If you upper body is moving, you are not doing it right. Have your feet about shoulder width apart, and make sure your knees and hips are bent at about 90 degrees. You can hold onto the ball for balance to start or put the ball against a wall. First you will just rotate your hips front to back, or anterior to posterior. Then you will do the tilts from side to side, or lateral tilts. Finally, you will rotate them around in circles, or a hula-hoop motion. Make sure to do each direction. You can start out with just 10 to 15 of each of these. They will feel easy when you do them, but make sure not to overdo it because you won’t feel the soreness until later.
Next you are going to do some combination moves. Now you are going to gently lift one foot off the ground, or a hip flexion movement. Try not to go fast, the Swiss ball is about balance and control, and if you go fast, you lose the benefits of it. Alternate your feet about 10 times on each side. Next you are going to kick your leg out, or a knee extension movement. If those become easy, you can add your arms into the exercises to make it harder. First try lifting your opposite arm with your leg, alternating back and forth. Then try lifting the same side arm and leg together for increased difficulty. Finally, you can lie down on the ball with your knees bent, and then lift your knees as seen in the video.
