This blog is written by personal trainer and Agile 4 Life Fitness Yoga Expert Lori Cable.
What types of things make your back unhappy? Sitting for long periods, working in the yard, lifting the grandkids, doing extra house cleaning or just forgetting to use your legs when you lift?
Lower back pain is one of the most common complaints in today’s society. If you have tight hamstrings, have been lax about properly stretching or have been doing repetitive stress movements—you could easily find yourself in pain. Try adding these three gentle yoga poses to your daily routine if you’re currently dealing with lower back pain, or trying to avoid lower back pain in the future.
Cat and Cow Tilts:
Cat and cow tilts can be done on the hands and knees in table top position or from a seated position in a chair or on the floor. Focus on gently lifting the tailbone as you lift the chest for the cow tilt. Inhale as you come into the cow tilt. Next, tuck the tailbone slightly and round the spine while dropping the chin to the chest to move into the cat tilt. Exhale as you do the cat tilt. Do each of these movements 4-8 times.
Supine Knee to Chest:
Lay on your back. Bring the right knee in toward your chest. Extend the left leg out. Focus on breathing into the lower back on the right side. Hold for about 5 full breaths. Repeat on the other side.
Supine Hamstring Stretch:
Lay on your back on the floor or a bed. Place a yoga tie, large towel or neck tie around the ball of one foot. Extend the leg up over your hip or to wherever you feel a stretch in the back of the leg. The opposite knee can be bent or extended out on the floor or bed. Hold for about 5 full breaths. Repeat on the other side.
This routine should only take about 5-10 minutes.
Cheers to a happy and healthy low back!
