Sometimes during daily activities your spine can start to feel irritation or even pain from built up pressure or even certain movements causing pain. Luckily there are some things that can relieve or even fix the pain. These include stretches like the cat-cow, child’s pose, and knee to chest. These stretches help release excess pressure that might build up from continuously sitting or straining your back doing daily activities.
The cat cow stretch, as shown in the picture, works on the whole spine and is performed from a tabletop position with your hands and knees on the ground. The movement involves spinal flexion and extension, and you can alternate between “cat”, facing upward with your spine/ core dipping towards the ground, and “cow” with your head facing down and you’re back creating a hump. The child’s pose targets the lower back in addition to your hips, spine, thighs, and ankles. This stretch involves kneeling and sitting on your knees with your arms extended out and in front of you over your head, with your head facing down towards the ground. This releases tension built up in your spine from sitting upright or crooked throughout the day. The knee to chest stretch involves laying on you back pulling one knee up to your chest at a time and is good for the lower back and glutes. This can also help a lot with sciatica pain by reducing pressure on the sciatic nerve. If you’re feeling any type of severe irritation or pain, please feel free to reach out to Specialized Physical Therapy.