In this video, I'm going to show
you how to fix lower back pain off to one side. Stay tuned! Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In
this video, we're going to go over some great lower back pain
relief exercises that are geared towards pain off to one
side and it's going to be broken up into a very easy to
follow three-part guide. All three parts, they focus on
something just a little bit differently but when you put
them together, you'll get the best results. Go through all
three parts. Take what is most effective for you. As a bonus,
all of these exercises can be done at home, don't require any
special equipment and may get quick lower back pain relief,
even in as little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started
and fix that lower back pain right now. In this part, we're
going to focus on a big cause of lower back pain which is
muscle tightness. Think muscle spasms, muscle knots, trigger
points, you name it. One of the easiest ways to be able to
target these is with this method. I go right next to a
door and I place my feet flat against it. I would recommend
using shoes with this because you'll have more grip making
this exercise a little bit easier. Knees are going to be
bent at 90°, our knees and our hips are going to be in a nice
straight line. We just lay flat on our back just like this. If
you do need some extra comfort for the neck, throw a roll-up
towel or pillow underneath it. I'm going to be using an
everyday tennis ball for this. If you don't have a tennis
ball, just roll up a couple socks instead. So, the movement
is very easy. What I'm going to do is lift my butt up by using
my feet right here. Kind of place your weight right in your heels
and then just take the tennis ball and go right over a spot
of tightness in the lower back. When you do this, only place
the sock or the ball over muscle or soft tissue. Don't
put it directly over the spine because that can cause
irritation. So, let's say I have a lot of pain right off to
the left side of the lower back. I'm just going to center
that tennis ball right over that. The nice thing with this
is that I can control the amount of pressure going down
into the tennis ball by lifting or lowering my butt just like
this. So, only go towards a comfortable amount of pressure. From there,
what I want to do is you can either hold this for a little
bit if it feels good but I like to throw more motion in there.
So, I go side to side with it. Just use my legs, my hips, my
pelvis to swing my body over the ball just like this and do
it for about 15 to 20 seconds. Again, applying enough pressure
in there where it feels good but not causing discomfort.
From there, you can just relax, take a breather, and if it
feels a lot better, you can switch over different spots but
I tend to do this for about three five repetitions and with
each repetition, I try to drive down into the ball just a
little bit more. You can also experiment by going forward
with it and you can also do like a hula hoop motion. So, go
through different motions, see if that targets it just a
little bit better but I would recommend doing this pretty
much from the belt line all the way up. If you want to target a
little bit more off to the side too, what I tend to do is tilt
my body towards one side like this. So, if I have a lot of
left-sided issues, I tilt my pelvis, my hips towards the
side and then do it. You'll notice that it becomes a little
bit more pinpoint over the ball because more body weight is
being placed over the ball. So, give that one a try. If you
want to take this one to the next level, let's reposition
that ball over the spot of pain and I'm going to add some
dynamic movement in there. So, I like to do a pelvic tilt.
That is just putting my hands on my hips and then rocking my
butt forward and backward just like this. You'll notice that
it engages a lot more muscles and you might find that this
just becomes more affect and getting that muscle tightness
out. If you want to take this one to the next next level,
what we can do is a knee to the chest. So, I just take one leg
off like this. In this case, it'll be my left and I bring
the knee all the way up towards my chest. You'll notice that
this again acts or activates the muscles and this will
become a much more intense self massage into that area. So, you
can hold this position right here for about 15 to 20
seconds. You can just relax and then repeat this one for a
couple repetition Experiment with going towards the other
side too and if that one feels like it helps out, you can
throw again more repetitions in but from there, just switch
over different spots as needed and I hope that gives very
quick lower back pain relief. In this part, we're going to
focus on improving mobility in the lower back, that is just
loosening up tight joints. In this part, we're going to focus
on improving mobility in the lower back that is improving
muscle tightness and joint stiffness with great lower back
pain relief stretching exercise let's start with a very easy
one that you can pretty much do anywhere it's known as the
ballerina so what I'm going to do is start with very good upright
posture whatever side that we're having pain let's say I
have pain on my right side I'm gonna take this leg and then
just put it over the other side so it's kinda in front of the
other leg what I'm gonna do from there is take the hand on
the side that you're not having pain so in this case my left
place it on my left hip the first part what I'm going to do is
apply pressure into my left hip to then move my pelvis slightly
towards the right. Push over just enough until you feel the
muscles activate and you really start to feel it a little bit
more on the right side. From there, what I'm going to do is
take my right arm, bend it like this, place it overhead and
then, I'm going to press into my left hip while I then bend
my body towards the left. When you do this, you're going to
feel a very deep stretch into the right side. This really
targets a muscle known as the QL or quadratus lumborum is a
big instigator of lower back pain. You want to hold this one
comfortably for at least 20 seconds, but if it feels good,
hold it for longer. You can hold it for a half minute up to
a minute. When you need a breather, just relax like this
but you want to do this for three to five repetitions and
with each repetition, try to stretch more into it. Always
challenge those muscles to get more tightness out and when
you're done on one side, always switch to the other to keep
them both in balance. So, here is a great lower back pain
exercise that you can do first thing in the morning in bed.
You can also do this one on the floor. What I'm going to do is
take two of my favorite yoga poses, the cobra and the
child's pose and put them together to really focus on
getting quick lower back pain relief even more so off to one
side. So, I'm going to start off on all fours in bed just like
this. I like to go to the edge of a bed grip into with my
hands. It makes this a little bit easier to do. Let's tuck
the chin towards the chest and then from there, I'm going rock
my whole body back like this. Pretty much taking my butt down
towards my heels. The more that you go down, the more that
you're going to feel an intense stretch pretty much through the
whole back. You wanna keep your elbows locked and straight
during this exercise too but go down as far as you're able to
go. Once you hit a very comfortable stretch and you
really feel it into the back. Hold this one for 20 to 30
seconds. You can hold it for longer if it feels good. You
want to also do nice, slow, controlled breathing. Let the
tension out more you relax the better this exercise will work
from there I'm going to go into the cobra so I'm going to rock
forward like this to the point where my hips my pelvis are
going to go flat on the bend my elbows are just going to be
slightly bent this puts the back into extension and it
should feel like a very deep stretch into the lower back if
it's too intense just use your elbows to bend a little bit
more like this and bring your chest down but the more that
you lift your chest up the more intense the stretch will get
but when you do this exercise, you want to make sure that the hips
down to your toes are flat. It's not arching up like this.
The only thing that should be arching is your back into
extension. Hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds. You're just
going to relax and then what you're going to do is then
build back into the child's pose. You want to do this one
nice and slowly for about three to five repetitions and with
each repetition, try to stretch into it just a little bit more.
Always challenge those muscles to hopefully get more pain
relief. This is how we're going to modify it to then take it to
the next level and focus a little bit more on one-sided
back pain. So, let's get back into our original position. I'm
going to do the child's pose again but what I'm going to do
is focus on turning or tilting my upper body to hit one side.
Let's say I have a lot going on on my right side. So, instead
of going straight out with it, I'm going to go towards the
opposite direction. So, I'm tilting my body towards the
left, just the upper body and then I'm going to lower my butt
down towards the heels. When you do this, you're going to feel
a lot, a really good deep stretch into that right side.
So, experiment by going as far as you're able to go and then
repeating this exercise and then you can do the same thing
with the cobra. So, I go straight ahead with it just
like this but I'm just going to then tilt my body a little bit
in the opposite direction but with each repetition with this
one, try to focus on going towards the other direction as
much as you can build into it to get a better stretch. With
this we're going to focus on dynamic movements that is
targeting a lot of muscle groups in a short amount of
time notably the piriformis and QL or quadratus lumbar muscles
two big instigators of lower back pain I'm going to start
off on the floor one leg is going to go straight just like
this doesn't matter what side you start with because we're
going to do it on both the other side I'm going to bend
the knee and then I'm going to take the foot and place it on
the inside of the straight leg pretty much centered right at
the knee press into it just a little bit two to create a
stable anchor point. The side of the bent knee, I'm going to
keep that arm straight at the elbow. Just place my hand back
like this for a little bit more stability. The first motion is
pretty easy. We want to just make sure that we have very
good upright posture as much as you can. So, kinda take your
hand and just press up with your upper body as much as you
can. We also want to try to keep the bent knee flat against
the floor during this exercise. I'm going to take the hand,
place it on the bent side's knee, and do what is known as a
corkscrew. So, I'm going to my whole body towards the side of
the bent knee just very very slowly you should feel a very
good stretch pretty much from the upper back all the way down
to the lower back really focus on that with this one too you
might get a sudden pop crack or release into the back it's
quite common this exercise just puts a lot of mobility into the
back but don't try to force it just go for a deep stretch once
we hit that deep stretch let's hold this one for 20 seconds
from there you're just going to relax and then you can do for
three to five repetitions with each repetition try to stretch
into it just a little bit more this is how we can focus on
taking this to the next level and hitting a little bit more
off to the side so I'm gonna go back into the corkscrew I'm
gonna lift my hand off the floor like this put it overhead
and then I'm going to just laterally tilt or bend my body
towards the opposite direction so if my right knee is bent I'm
tilting my whole body towards my left side and this feels
wonderful very very deep stretch to the side right here.
It's really hitting that QL or quadratus lumborum. Again, hold
this one for about 20 seconds. You're just going to relax. On
the next repetition, try to stretch more into it and repeat
this for three to five repetitions and then when
you're done on one side, always switch to the other to keep
them both imbalance. A leading cause of one-sided lower back
pain is due to imbalances and weaknesses in the back. If we
don't address that, no matter what stretch you do, the pain
will keep coming back. So, if we want to get rid of the lower
back pain for good, we have to strengthen everything and this
is a very easy exercise to be able to do that. It's known as
the butt walk. It sounds funny but yes, it does really work.
It's going to target a lot of muscles, pretty much the legs,
the glute buttock. It's going to work the core, the quadratus
lumborum, the lower back muscles. It's really good for
bringing both sides into balance. I'm gonna start off on
the floor. You might find that doing this on a hardwood floor
will be a little bit easier than doing it on carpet but I'm
going to just straighten both legs like this. I'm gonna take
my hands, place them into a prayer position and then put my
hands right on my chest just like this. Just drive it right
in. Let's have very good upright posture as much as
possible. From here, the movement is really easy. I'm
going to just take one leg, the heel right here, and then drive
it forward, the whole leg and the whole side. Activate those
muscles. From there, I'm just going to do the same with the
other side but when you do this, I lift up a little bit
and then I start to just drive my whole side forward. So, I'm
walking with my butt. Again, this can become very
challenging if you have a lot of weakness going on but it's
going to work both sides. Try to do this for about five
seconds. If you're able to work up and go longer. The more that
you do this, the more strength that you're going to build but
once you hit a point where you feel like you need a break,
take a breather and then on that point, let's go in
reverse. Or tackle the muscles a little bit differently but
this is just a good way to really focus on building
strength, build balance in both sides, and have a little bit of
fun at the same time also but try to do this for about three
to five repetitions. If the exercise has helped, please
support the channel by giving this video a like and maybe
subscribing too. If you have any comments or questions,
please leave them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I
can. Thanks so much for watching!
