Cubicle Lower Back Stretches
Lower Back Pain can be agonizing when you have to sit at your desk for long periods of time without any opportunity to move around. Plus, it makes doing what you have to do for work that much harder to do. Many of my patients have to deal with the public whether they are answering phones or dealing with customers face to face and they tell me how difficult a time they have keeping a smile on their face while their back is killing them.
So, what do you do? Do a lower back pain exercise. You have back pain, or want to prevent it, and you’re basically chained to your desk all day except for potty breaks or a quick lunch. With little time at work to get away and do a few stretches, many of my patients want to know what they can do right at their desks.
Usually people are surprised when I tell them that a lot of back pain that people have comes from the hips and not the back. Sure, you may feel it in the back, but the pain is due to tight hip muscles. The reason is that there is an imbalance in the soft tissue structures, or muscles, in the pelvis and legs. These shortened and weak muscles throw the whole lower back system out of balance and the sensation of pain develops in the low back and has the opportunity to cause even more problems.
One exercise you can do at your desk is the piriformis stretch. I have uploaded a video that shows you the correct way to do this stretch. You’ll have to listen closely because Steve used the microphone on the video camera and for whatever reason didn’t use his lapel mic. But the stretching is perfect and all you have to do is watch and repeat. I usually tell people to do 2-3 at a time and do them several times a day.
While Steve approaches this topic as a Chiropractor, and I as a Physical Therapist, we basically agree on the technique and importance of doing this regularly.