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This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in December of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QvP9ScNDxU
Mike: We're all guilty of these five daily habits that can wreak havoc on your back.
Brad: That's right, we're going to go through each bad habit and show you some simple ways to avoid it, to keep your back healthy and pain-free. Ha, what do you say to that?
Mike: That was a good intro.
Brad: That's right, thank you.
Mike: Now before we get into the habits, we want to acknowledge Rick Olderman who showed us a lot of these corrective exercises we're going to be showing in this video. And he is a PT with a wealth of knowledge. Bad habit number one is too much sitting. When you're in a prolonged position for a long period of time, it can wreak havoc on your back.
Brad: That's right. In today's society, whether it's a cell phone, laptop, or watching TV, we sit, sit, sit, and oftentimes with poor harmful posture. So to combat this, make sure you get up and actually walk, and walk for five to 10 minutes. Even just a short walk, if you're at work, to the bubbler and back or to the copy machine. It's going to be helpful on that back. What do you say about that, Mike?
Mike: If you're at home, maybe simply go use the bathroom. Get a position break. No matter what position you're in, it's good to change positions over time.
Brad: Okay, now we're going to show you a simple little trick that you can do to help correct your seated posture. And this is going to help with sitting too much as well as our next incorrect problem that people do. So simply take a pillow from the bed and put it in lengthwise behind your back, that offers support, and puts you in a nice neutral position that most people are very comfortable with, and it doesn't cost anything.
Mike: Now, the second common problem people have is too much anterior pelvic tilt, which is what I'm showing here.
Mike: My pelvis is tilting forward or anteriorly. What this does, is if you look at my lower back, it starts putting more curvature or extension in my lower back. Too much arch. It can be uncomfortable. Often, you may see people stuck like this, it's because their hip flexor muscles are too tight, because they sit too often. So we're going to show you a stretch you could do to combat that if you have this issue.
Brad: It all ties together, Mike. Sitting, sitting, sitting. And we're going to help correct it. All right, now we're going to show you a really effective way to stretch those hip flexors out. Mike, go ahead.
Mike: So what you want to do is perform this on a bed. If your bed is not firm, you can certainly place some sort of firmer pillow underneath your buttocks. If you're okay going on the dining room table and it's tall enough, that's fine too. So what you're going to do is start at the edge of the mat here and you're going to bring both knees to your chest. You're going to slowly lower one leg down off the edge and try to bend your knee while bringing your opposite leg up towards your chest. You'll notice as soon as I do that, you can see my hip flexor tightness because this leg just wants to pop up. I have tighter hip flexors. I do try to stretch them, but this is a nice safe stretch to do on both legs and protect your back at the same time. You also want to make sure the leg going down is straight in line with your body. It's not going out too far.
Brad: Right, right.
Mike: You're going to hold this for 30 seconds, reset, and perform on the other side. Make sure to do three sets on each side.
Brad: Right, and you may find one side feels tighter than the other. That's very common.
Mike: The third common habit is having a side-bending problem. Now what that means is when you stand up straight like Brad's going to demonstrate, you may actually lean to one side.
Mike: Now, some people are not as pronounced as Brad is demonstrating right here. A simple way to check if you have that is possibly to have someone take a picture of your back without a shirt on. You may notice a crease on one side and not the other. That is not just a fat fold on one side. You actually have a slight side-bending problem. What that does is it can elevate your pelvis as well as compress your ribs. So what we want to do is stretch that open again, decompressing the spine, and it'll feel better for your back. So we're going to show you how you can do that.
Brad: It's a very easy exercise.
Mike: So to know which side to stretch, it's typically the side you are bending towards. Or if you only have pain on one side versus the other, do the painful side. So I'm going to do, say my pain is on my right side, I'm going to use a door frame here. If you have a pull-up bar at home, you can certainly use that instead. I'm going to face my palm away from me on the top of the door frame, and then I'm going to lean into the open door here. This is going to open up the vertebrae, getting a nice relief stretch. It's kind of a decompression, and it'll help with that side-bending problem. We realize not everyone can reach the top of a doorway or have a pull-up bar, so Brad will demo a way you can do it with a simple mop handle.
Brad: Right, so you can do it with a mop, a broom, or a stick, like we have the Booyah Stik, and you can do it standing or seated. I'll demonstrate in the seated position. Now, I want to stretch my right side. So it works really well if you've got one of these mops because it stays right there. You need something that will not slide around. If you're doing it on a chair, you've gotta get it in. You can actually sit on that. You reach up as high as you can, and then you simply lean to the side. You'll feel a stretch right here. We're stretching those muscles out, relax, hold it, and then come back.
Brad: Now, with both of these, if you do this and it creates some sharp pain, it is not the right stretch. This should feel like a comfortable stretch, and you can hold it for 15 up to 30 seconds. 30 seconds is a long time. I typically do my stretches, stretch and relax, and think about my breathing so it's deep and relaxed. So if you do happen to have a stick like the Booyah Stik, it's really important that it, again, doesn't slip. If you are on a surface, on the floor, or a chair and it's slipping, simply take your shoe off like I did, put that in there and that acts as a grip, and do it that way.
Brad: Now, the next one is something most people may not be aware of, but it can be a lifelong habit, and that's simply walking. And when your heel strikes, your knee is locked out, which puts a lot of undue stress on the joints as well as through the hip and back. Mike, explain it, please.
Mike: When learning how to walk with a bent knee, it is important to start in your house, not wearing any shoes. Make sure you have something you can grip the floor well with on, maybe slippers. And what you're going to do is land with a flat foot, which causes my knee to bend. Or land on your forefoot, meaning the front of the foot when I'm walking, again, I will have a bent knee. You also do not want to put your foot way out in front of you. When you walk, your feet should be maintained beneath your trunk. What this is going to do is put the pressure on your muscles, so your quads and your glutes and hamstrings, where it's supposed to be, and not putting pressure on the joints, which you get with the heel strike.
Brad: Right, I personally find this to be the most effective for me to change over. You can feel that heel strike, and there's a clunk there. With forefoot walking it's soft and cushiony.
Mike: If it helps you, you will notice right away because if you're having back pain with walking, you try this and your back pain isn't there, then this is something you want to slowly adapt into your everyday walking patterns.
Brad: You've had it with knee pain, hip pain. It's done a lot of good for a lot of people. Okay, lastly, we want to talk about the glute muscles. The large glute max muscles are not working adequately. In other words, gluteal amnesia is what they have termed it. Now, this can come from sitting a lot or walking with a locked knee in a heel strike. Now, it's amazing how all this fits together. Mike, can we talk about how to fix gluteal amnesia?
Mike: So we're going to show you an exercise on the mat here in a second, and it's going to teach you to engage your glutes again. So doing this exercise in conjunction with the other things we recommended will get those glutes firing properly again.
Brad: Okay, now Mike is going to demonstrate gluteal pumps. He's going to do it actually on this table. You do not want to do it on a better soft surface, but it works better for videoing. Typically a carpeted floor or a mat works the best.
Mike: So you're going to start on your elbows and forearms and knees. And what I'm going to do is kick one of my legs up towards the ceiling. I'm not going to do the traditional glute pumps going through the full range of motion. I'm simply going to lift my leg off the mat a little ways, and I'm going to start doing little oscillating movements, trying to engage that glute. Now, if you do not feel your butt muscle engaging, you can simply bring your foot in, turn your leg and try this. This will isolate the glutes a little more. Try to perform 30 repetitions total on each side. Make sure to perform it on both legs.
Brad: Right, you should feel that glute muscle start to burn a little bit, knowing that it's working, that typical fatigue burn.
Mike: Now, some people are not able to get on their knees like this, so Brad will show a standing variation you can try.
Brad: Okay, now the option is standing. You can go up to a countertop or a table. So you're going to lean on that with your hands, depending on the height of the top, or your forearms. The motion of the leg and the hip are identical. You're just in a different position. I'll do my right one, a 90-degree bend in the knee like so. Again, not really high. We're not looking for that. We're working that mid-range, short motions, continuous, repetitive motions, good control, not too fast. Rotate in like this to help isolate that glute maximus. And again, the same thing, work up to 30 repetitions. You could do this two to three times per day.
Mike: So those are the five daily habits that could be causing back pain. Now, if you notice your back pain is a more muscular issue, this may help.
Brad: Right, so we've got a back massager, so you don't have to go to a masseuse. And it's very nice. We've had excellent comments on this. We've used it. We do like it. It has a cushion if it's too aggressive. If you want a little more aggressive, you simply take that off. You can see 'em rolling here. You can change the direction on those, and they're heated. Put that simply in a chair and adjust it to the right height so it gets to those tight muscles, and you'll feel that warmth. And it is very comfortable. I actually like to use it in a recliner. It'll sink in there and I can adjust it where I want, where I watch TV, look at my phone, or possibly take a nap.
Mike: If you'd like to check out more videos on how to relieve your back pain, try some different techniques, check out "How to Fix Low Back Pain in 90 Seconds, Bob and Brad Concur!"
Brad: All right, it does look like a tooth, but it really is a nice back massager.
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