How to Do Stretching for the Back

If we talk about our health, then stretch­ing is insane­ly use­ful for it. It helps to relieve fatigue after a long day at work, and makes our pos­ture bet­ter, and our self-con­fi­dence is high­er. Whether you’re work­ing in an office or stand­ing behind a bar, stretch­ing will help your mus­cles relax and keep you on your toes.

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If stiff­ness in the back has become habit­u­al, and pain is felt at the slight­est move­ment, then stretch­ing should be done dai­ly, because it will help:

• Relieve mus­cle ten­sion. Back to relax and the usu­al pain at the end of the work­ing day will go away
• Devel­op and improve flex­i­bil­i­ty. We have all seen the ease with which the dancers move, as if they are float­ing in the air. This is what they have been doing for years. Of course, a lit­tle stretch­ing will not make you a pro­fes­sion­al dancer, but smooth­ness and grace in your move­ments will def­i­nite­ly appear.
• Pre­vent dam­age to spinal struc­tures. Back flex­ion exer­cis­es can relieve pres­sure on the back of the inter­ver­te­bral discs and pre­vent their flu­id por­tion, the nucle­us pul­po­sus, from shift­ing. In the long term, this may pro­tect against disc pro­tru­sion and her­ni­a­tion.
• Pull out growth. To put it sim­ply, with age, due to dif­fer­ent loads, incor­rect pos­ture, the spine is slight­ly deformed, and it seems that the per­son has “stopped”. If you reg­u­lar­ly stretch, you can straight­en your pos­ture and, due to this, be a lit­tle high­er.

It is a known fact that doc­tors also include stretch­ing in their back pain reha­bil­i­ta­tion pro­gram, and this method is very effec­tive. If you have a desire to diver­si­fy your mini-work­outs, then you can sign up for Pilates, asana yoga or stretch­ing in par­al­lel. They are equal­ly use­ful, but you will not get tired of doing the same exer­cis­es.

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Who is contraindicated in stretching the back

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, stretch­ing, although use­ful for many, can some­times be harm­ful. This applies to those who suf­fer from acute back pain or have ever had spinal injuries, dam­age to lig­a­ments, mus­cles, joints. In this case, you risk only aggra­vat­ing every­thing. But if you have an acute desire to devel­op your flex­i­bil­i­ty, pump your fem­i­nin­i­ty with the help of exer­cis­es, then first of all, con­sult an ortho­pe­dic sur­geon who will advise you and tell you which exer­cis­es can be done and which are strict­ly pro­hib­it­ed.

Basic stretching exercises

Below we have select­ed the most pop­u­lar exer­cis­es for you. But you can diver­si­fy the work­out at your dis­cre­tion, for exam­ple, look through YouTube, Insta­gram or Pin­ter­est. There you will find work­outs for every taste and com­plex­i­ty.

1. Stretch from knees to chest

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
• Place your hands on the backs of your thighs or below your knees and pull your legs towards your chest.
• Pull until you feel a slight stretch.
• Hold on for 15 sec­onds.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat nine more times.

2. Stretch with twisting in the prone position

• Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Keep­ing your back flat on the floor, rotate your hips to the left, low­er­ing your legs toward the floor until you feel a slight stretch.
• Hold on for 15 sec­onds.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Then repeat the exer­cise, only already turn­ing the hips to the right,
• Return to start­ing posi­tion
• Repeat this sequence nine more times.

3. Stretching in the lying position

• Roll over onto your stom­ach.
• Lean on your elbows, stretch­ing your back.
• Slow­ly straight­en­ing your elbows, bend your back even more.
• Keep straight­en­ing your elbows until you feel a slight stretch.
• Hold on for 15 sec­onds.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat nine more times.

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4. Stretch to draw in the abdomen in a prone position

• Lie back on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Tight­en­ing the low­er abdom­i­nal mus­cles, press a small part of the back to the floor.
• Hold when you men­tal­ly count to 10.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat nine more times.

5. Lying butt lift stretch

• Lying on your back, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor.
• Rest­ing with your feet, slow­ly tear your butt off the floor.
• Hold at the top for a count of 10.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat nine more times.

6. Stretching “cat-cow”

• Get on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor.
• Arch your back to the ceil­ing like you’re a cat that’s mad at some­one
• Hold this posi­tion and count to 5.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Now arch your back as if you want to press your stom­ach into the floor.
• Stop and count to 5.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat 9 more times.

7. Sitting Forward Twisting Stretch

• Sit on a chair and put your feet on the floor.
• Arch your neck, upper back, and low­er back for­ward until your chest is on your hips and your hands can touch the ground.
• Stop and count to 10.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Repeat nine more times.

8. Lateral stretch

• Stand straight, arms at your sides, feet shoul­der-width apart.
• Tilt your tor­so to the left, slid­ing your left hand over your thigh, and stretch your right hand over your head.
• Hold at this point and count to 10.
• Return to start­ing posi­tion.
• Now tilt your tor­so to the right, plac­ing your right hand on your thigh and extend­ing your left arm above your head.
• Stop and count to 10.
• Repeat this sequence nine more times.

It is advis­able to do stretch­ing, warm­ing up the mus­cles well. There­fore, before this, it is worth doing exer­cis­es, start­ing to do exer­cis­es from the head. This way you don’t risk get­ting any injuries. Remem­ber that you are the most extra­or­di­nary girl in the world and take care of your­self.