Help relieve lower back pain during pregnancy with these simple exercises. For this video, I teamed up with Dr. Jen, a pelvic floor physical therapist who also happens to be pregnant! She’ll show you her top 5 exercises to help relieve low back pain when you are pregnant by mobilizing and stabilizing the pelvis.
The first exercise to help relieve low back pain during pregnancy is an anterior and posterior pelvic tilt. This is when you are emphasizing moving your hips forwards and backwards.
The next lower back exercise is a lateral pelvic tilt, or moving your pelvis in a side to side direction.
Now you will focus on stability with your core muscles including the diaphragm, pelvic floor, transversus abdominis, and multifidus muscles (deep spinal muscles). This should be done while you are breathing normally, so try not to hold your breath. After you achieve this, you can add in a bridge to activate the gluteus muscles.
Then you will get onto all fours, or in quadruped. Then you will do pelvic tilts again, or some call it the cat/dog exercise or stretch. You can also do lateral tilts as well.
Finally, you will do the child’s pose or prayer stretch. If you are later in your pregnancy, you can use a pillow for support.
Yoga at bedtime can help you fall asleep faster and sleep better. Trudy, a registered yoga teacher and fellow Physical Therapist, stops by to show me a therapeutic yoga bedtime routine.
If you're a truck driver or a delivery driver, sitting all day can put a lot of stress on your body, especially your back, bottom, legs, and hips. These stretches and exercises are a great way to help keep your body moving for all kinds of drivers and anyone who sits a lot throughout the day.
Want to improve your posture? Here are some simple things you can do. Having bad posture can cause pain in your neck, shoulders, back, and our whole body.
A herniated disc can be very debilitating. Sometimes a nerve can get compressed, and there will also be numbness and tingling going down one leg. These stretches and exercises should help relieve the pain.
The Epley Maneuver for Vertigo can be very effective at relieving vertigo symptoms, but it’s a procedure that should be performed by a physical therapist or other health care professional. This video is for demonstration purposes only.
Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions can cause pain all over the body. This is often called widespread pain. The key to finding relief with stretches and exercises with these types of conditions is to find the right amount of intensity for you. Lying down while performing simple stretches and exercises often helps.
Core exercises are very important to have a healthy and stable back as well as the whole body. The core is not only the front, sides, and back of the trunk, but it is also the pelvic floor. When first starting core exercises, it is best to try modified ones first and then progress to harder movements as the core gets stronger.
These simple breathing exercises are great for people with COPD or for people who want to be able to hold their breath longer like swimmers or surfers. These are also great for relaxation.
Got back pain? These back pain relief stretches can be done on the floor, a bed, or a couch. These back stretches are great for general back pain relief.