SIX STRATEGIES TO SAVE YOUR SPINE
1. Keep your hips flexible—When your hips are tight or limited in mobility you will move excessively through your spine. This is a common cause of back injuries! The following are two important stretches designed to open up your hips and take stress off your back.
 Hip Flexor Stretch (Hold 1 minutes)
- Begin in a kneeling position
- Place one foot in front of you and lunge forward
- Make sure your pelvis does not rotate or tilt
- Make sure that your knee does not go past your ankle
- Keep your spine upright and place both hands on your knee
 Sitting Wall Stretch (Hold 2 minutes)
- Sit on floor with back against wall and legs
straight in front of you
- Scoot tail bone back as close as possible to the wall
- Pull feet straight back toward you with 1st and 5th
toes pulled back equally
- Press knees into floor by tightening thighs
- Relax arms with shoulders pulled back to the wall
2. Keep your abdominals strong—just because someone can do a lot of sit-ups doesn’t guarantee that their abdominals will protect their spine. We see a lot of patients who have very strong upper abdominals, but no lower abdominal control to protect their spines. In addition your abdominals need to be strong in a lengthened position. To get a sense of how to feel your lower abdominals contract and use them in a lengthened position (as opposed to a crunch) try the following:
  Abdominal Bracing:
- Place your thumb on your lower ribs and your fifth finger on the top of your pelvis.
- Exhale and draw your lower abdominal or belly button in toward your spine and up toward your chin.
- Maintain this lift as you inhale and lean back as you exhale. Do not allow the distance between your fifth finger and thumb to increase as you lean back. The position of your spine should stay stable and the movement should occur through your hips.
- This is a great beginning exercise and should be progressed to challenge your abdominals more and make them powerful.
 3. Maintain a neutral spine in a neutral position – do this as much as possible, especially when doing stressful activities such as sitting. When you think of stressful activities for the spine, sitting may not have been the first thing to come to mind. But sitting results in more compressive force to our discs than standing or the mechanics of lifting. When we sit with optimal alignment we distribute these loads in a more balanced way and reduce the compromise to our discs. But even the best alignment is still hard on our discs and it is best to take a break from sitting every 20 minutes even if it is to stand up and then sit back down. So here are some tips on sitting:
- Your knees should be lower than your hips and the back of the chair seat should be slightly higher than the front. Luckily most desk chairs and car seats adjust in this way. If yours doesn’t, you can get an Aston cushion like the one in this picture by calling New Dimensions Physical Therapy (328-8950). This helps maintain your pelvis and spine in a neutral position. Your breathing will also be improved significantly because your lungs and diaphragm will sit in a better position. This in itself will reduce stress and muscular tension in your body.
4. Walk 20 to 30 minutes daily. Our spines and bodies were designed to move and to stay healthy your back needs to be in motion. Walking is a simple and effective way to achieve this.
 5. When back pain strikes: Try the following supported position (see picture below) for a minimum of 15 minutes. This should help to reduce the pain and tension in your spinal musculature.
90/90 Position:
- Lie on your back with your legs supported and your hips and knees bent 90 degrees.
- While doing so, focus on your breath, particularly during exhalation.
- Place your hands on your lower ribs. Exhale completely and make sure your ribs descend as far as possible.
6. Come and see us:
- We will assess your alignment, spinal mobility, hip flexibility and strength and design a program to meet your individual needs to insure that you will have a healthy spine for life.
- If you have had back pain and it is not improving, then you need to have your spine evaluated by a physical therapist. In the evaluation you will find out the underlying cause of your pain. Next a treatment plan will be designed to help you recover from your injury. If further tests or surgery appears to be required you will then be referred to an MD.
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"After working hard at all of my new exercises, I was able to return to running without pain, and completed the Danskin triathlon in June."
-Jeanne Broussard
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