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Home Exercises for a Healthy Back

Alyssa Christie, BHK, CSEP-CEP

Finding Neutral Spine & Engaging the Core

diagram

  1. Alternate between a posterior pelvic tilt and an anterior pelvic tilt to increase mobility in the hips and lower back (10 repetitions moving with slow breaths).
  2. Find the position “in between” those two positions. This is a Neutral Spine. Check that your pubic bone is level with the front boney parts of your hips.
  3. Engage the core by “bracing” your lower abdomen. Think of pulling your hip bones together, and “zipping up” from your pubic bone to your bellybutton. Hold for several deep breaths. If you “lose your core”, just reset.

Hip Bridges

Hip Bridges

  1. Find Neutral Spine and engage the Core.
  2. Exhale and lift the hips until your torso is in alignment from your shoulders to your knees. You can pause and take some deep breaths here if you’d like.
  3. Inhale and lower down slowly making sure you maintain proper alignment and core engagement. Repeat exercise 10 times.

Windshield Wipers

Windshield WIpers

  1. Position your feet slightly wider than hip width, find Neutral Spine and engage the Core.
  2. Keep upper back and arms relaxed and in contact with the ground at all times.
  3. Slowly inhale let your knees fall to one side in a controlled manner. Your opposite hip can lift off the ground, but your upper body stays straight.
  4. As you exhale (with an engaged core), bring your knees back to the starting position.
  5. Repeat on the other side. Continue until you have completed 10 repetitions on each side.

Side Leg Raises

Side Leg Raises

  1. Find Neutral Spine and engage the Core (more challenging on your side).
  2. Rotate your top leg so that you are “pigeon toed”.
  3. Exhale and lift your leg, leading with the heel.
  4. Inhale and lower your leg so that your toes gently tap the heel of your bottom foot. Repeat 10 times each leg.

Single Arm (and Leg) Back Extension

Single Arm and Back Extension

  1. On your front, find Neutral Spine and engage the Core. Eyes and nose should be pointing towards the ground, not forward or ahead of you.
  2. Extend one arm overhead. Inhale and lift off the ground leading with the thumb. Emphasis on length of limb, not how high off the ground you can lift.
  3. Exhale and slowly lower arm down. Repeat 10 times on each side.

*Try lifting each leg independently. If pain free, you can add a single left lift while you are raising the opposite arm.

By Tim Wood D.C.
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