How to Loosen Stiff Joints & Relieve Back Pain
How to Loosen Stiff Joints & Relieve Back Pain
Exercises That Can Help With Your Mobility Issues
Nowadays, everyone seems to have a bit of a battered body, whether it’s a sore lower back, tight shoulders, or achy knees. And, for a lot of people, it’s caused from being desk-bound or sedentary in general. However, by adding in small bouts of movement to break up our day, or dynamic stretches, we can reverse the long-term effects.
In a recent YouTube video, Physical Therapist and Strength Coach, Jeff Cavaliere, has shared some exercises that he says will “fix 95% of your problems” to help you move more freely throughout the day and endure less pain. I tried these movements with some of my clients that suffer from tight hips, shoulders, backs, and knees and saw what a positive affect they made. So I decided to share them with you. What makes these exercises better is that you can do them at home.
The Face Pull: Best for knots in the upper back and improving slumped shoulders
You may have seen people perform these at the gym with either a resistance band or using a cable machine - but it can easily be done at home, and all you need is a doorway.
How To Do It:
-Stand in front of an open doorway, with your feet just outside the doorway.
-Bring your arms up to a 90-degree angle and lean the back of your forearms and hands against the door frame.
-Lean your body backwards slightly through the doorway, then squeeze your back muscles and push your forearms into the door frame to lift your body through the doorway.
-Hold here for 3-4 seconds, then repeat the movement, lowering yourself back through the doorway, then pushing it forwards
The Dead Hang: Best for improving shoulder mobility and flexibility, activating your core, thoracic extension and strengthening your grip.
So for this exercise, you will need to invest in a pull-up bar, unless you have somewhere you can safely hang from at home.
There are two versions of this exercise you can do - one for your core and one for easing tension in your back.
How To Do It:
-Grab the bar with a pronated grip (palms facing away from you) and have your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
-Think about pulling your shoulder blades down towards the floor to activate your shoulders and keep your legs and feet together.
-If your feet touch the floor, lift them off the floor slightly in front of you, as this will activate your core.
-Hang here for 60 seconds and repeat two more times. Try and increase your hang time over time.
-To help release build up tension in the back, perform step one, but this time let your feet stay on the ground as you hang from the bar.
The Hip Drop: Best for strengthening the glute medius to alleviate lower back pain.
When your glute medius is weak, it can cause instability in the pelvis, which can lead to lower back pain. But, by strengthening the glute medius, Cavaliere says it can help with major relief for low back pain. All you need for this simple exercise is a wall.
How To Do It:
-Stand to the side a couple of feet away from a wall.
-Rest your closest hand against the wall for balance and lift your foot closest to the wall off the floor behind you (so you’re balancing on the leg furthest away from the wall).
-On the leg that you’re balancing on, drop your hip out to the side. Cavaliere says think about being ‘as lazy as you can’ in this position. You should feel a stretch down the front of your thigh and outside of your glute.
-Then, drive that hip in the opposite direction back towards the wall, whilst raising your lifted leg in front of your body at a 90-degree angle. You should feel a contraction at the top of your glute.
-Repeat this movement, so drop your hip away from the wall with your leg behind the body, then slide it back towards the wall whilst raising your leg in front of the body .Do this for 4-5 reps on each side for 2-3 sets, eventually aiming to work your way up to 10 reps.
Step Up/Reverse Lunge Combo: Best for strengthening weak knees.
This exercise helps your knees and focuses on a lot of areas to do so, including strengthening your ankles, hips, quads, and glutes. Instability in the ankle and hip can lead to knee pain, which can be the result of weak glutes. Head to the stairs to do this move.
How To Do It:
-First, you want to perform a simple step up - so place your right foot on the first step of your stairs and push through the heel of that foot to raise your left leg in front of you. -Next, step your left foot back to the floor, then take your right foot off the stair and step it behind you, lowering your knee to the floor so you perform a lunge.
-Then, place your right foot back onto the step and repeat the same movement again, raising your left knee in front of you, step back, then lower your right foot behind you to lunge. -Continue doing this for 4-5 reps and then repeat on the opposite side.
If completed with consistency, any of these exercises will help alleviate tightness and pain. For more information on these stretches/exercises feel free to reach out to Core Performance Fitness and Training.
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Kim Duke is a certified personal trainer and owner of Core Performance Fitness and Training, located at 55 Bristol Lane, Ellicottville, NY. Kim resides in Ellicottville where she raised her two sons, Zach and Nik. For more information about her studio visit her Facebook page, go to www.coreperformancefitness.com or call her directly at 716-698-1198.
