Lower Back Pain (Flexion) Day 4: 14-Min Resistance Band Flow

Hands go on the mat. My knees shuffle back a little bit. So I've still got my butt towards my heels. Okay, and then what I'm going to do from here is I'm going to flex my back slightly into the band.

So there's a bit of resistance against that movement. I'm just starting to reintroduce a little bit of flexion. And with this one, you can very often start to find that point where you start to feel it a little bit. It's a little bit painful.

You just go up to that, hold it for a second or two, and then just come back off. So again, it's important not to overdo this at first. So when we start reintroducing flexion, we're going to do it gradually, just a little bit at a time. I'm just going to go back to my previous exercise, hands under the shoulders, lifting up.

Okay. And take the band again. Hands on the floor. Okay.

Okay, and take the band again. Hands on the floor. Now, just rounding my back and then taking it back to neutral again. So, once again, at first, this may only be a very, very small movement.

Just taking it up the edge of the discomfort. And as you become more confident and it starts to feel better, then you can slowly increase that. And that's there. So, we're going to go back to the side plank.

We did. But this time, instead of putting my knees down, if I can, I'm going to go onto the feet. If this is too much, don't feel free to go back to the knees. That's fine.

And rest there. Just going to switch sides. So, we're going to go hip straight, squeezing the glutes, pushing the hips forward. And then back onto my back.

Hands under my, small of my back. And we're going to do these dead bugs again. So, I'm keeping the pressure on my hands. I'm going to slowly straighten both legs this time.

Again, if both legs are too much, go back to doing one leg at a time. I'm going to make sure the pressure stays on my hands. That's the most important thing here. I said I don't really care what the legs are doing.

As long as the pressure is staying on my hands, I'm keeping that lower back in that same position. That's the key to this exercise. So, this can be deceptive actually. This can be quite difficult exercise.

I have a lot of very high level athletes struggle with this one in my clinic. If you're doing it correctly, making sure your back stays down, this can really be quite challenging. Okay. So, I'm going to go back.

We're going to do the side planks again. Switch sides. One more time. Pressure on my hands.

Slowly straighten the legs. So, I'm keeping the legs touching the floor. I'm not trying to lift them yet. That's the next stage of this exercise.

If I want to make it even harder, I can try and do it with the legs in the air. But, most of the time, I'm trying to lift them. I'm trying to lift them. I'm trying to do it with the legs in the air.

But, most people, if you go onto that stage too early, you'll lose that position of your back. That's really the most important thing. Once more around that circuit. Okay.

Okay. And come up onto your knees. So, final exercise we're going to do today, we're going to start introducing some lunges. Now, the way I do these, I like to start from half kneeling, front knee at 90 degrees, back knee at 90 degrees, back nice and straight.

So, it's tempting to lean over the knee, and then I'm going to start to bend the knee. Back nice and straight. So, it's tempting to lean over that front leg. I want you to try and avoid that.

So, we're going to tuck the back, the toes under at the back, and remember that my head goes straight towards the ceiling. So, I'm pushing that hip forwards there to keep that straight line as much as possible from that knee to my shoulder. So, everyone has a good side and a bad side on these. Same thing again.

Take some time to get that start position absolutely right. And you'll find these easier. So, I'm going to start with the front knee, and then I'm going to tuck the knee in. And then I'm going to tuck the knee in.

And then tuck it in to the right. And you'll find these easier. Again, back up straight. Squeeze that hip, push forwards, and then straight up and down.

So, I'm making this easier for myself by not moving my feet at the moment. So, I can really concentrate on what my hips and my back are doing. Change legs. Switch sides.

And rest there. So, that's all we've got for day four. Come back once you've mastered these, and we'll look at the final set of exercises which will wrap all this up. We'll see you back for day five of our back pain program.