Hi, I'm Kintuna and I'm one of the physiotherapists from Beta Physio in Edinburgh. We're often
asked for simple exercises that people can do when they've been sitting all day at work
to prevent back and neck pain and also to help improve their posture. So we've put together
five short exercises that we thought are easy for you to do. All you need is a mat and you
can do them at home anytime. Okay, so the first exercise we're going to do is bridging.
So for that one, you want to lie onto your back and you're going to have your knees bent.
So when you lie down, you want to have your hips, your knees and your toes in line and
the first thing you're going to do is gently flatten your back down so you've got a small
gap and you're going to flatten so that you've not got a gap under your back anywhere and
then just start to lift your bottom and lift your hips all the way up into the ear. Okay,
so when you're at the top of the bench, you should feel that you've got pressure on your
shoulder blades, but you're tucking your bottom in and you've got your hips nice and high
and then you're going to slowly control that all the way back down and this is helping
to move the joints in your back and build up the control through the long muscles at
the side of your back. Okay, so you roll all the way down back to your starting position
and you're going to do that about eight to ten times. So just flattening your back, tuck
your tailbone in and curl it all the way up to the top. Hold it for a couple of seconds
at the top, you're going to breathe in and then you want to breathe out all the way down
and just flatten each vertebrae in your back one after the other. Okay, so you do that
eight to ten times. So then you're going to turn onto your side and you've got your hands
behind your head. So the last exercise we're moving your spine up and down, this time we're
going to add in some rotation. So you want to keep your heels in line with your hips
and you've got your knees on top of each other. So take a look at your elbow, top elbow
and you're going to lift all the way up, keep the other elbow glued onto the mat and just
rotate all the way round. And at the end you should feel a stretch into your upper back,
shoulder blade ribbing here and just hold it there for a deep breath in and out and
then close back over. Okay, and you're going to do this three times on each side, so where
you go all the way over, you make sure that you keep your hips pushed forwards and your
hips stay nice and steady and then all the way back. Okay, so three times on each side
for that one and then you're going to come onto your hands and knees. So this one is
called Cat Stretch. So you want to start with your knees underneath your hips and you've
got your wrists directly underneath your shoulders. So you're going to keep your shoulders pulled
down away from your ears and then start to tuck in with your tailbone. So your tailbone
tucks in, you're going to round your back all the way up towards the ceiling and let
your head fold up moving in. Okay, and then go in the opposite way, you start to stick
your tailbone out and you're going to lift all the way up through the front. At the top
you want to try and keep your chest and your collarbones nice and wide so that you're lifting
up from your upper back and not just your neck. Okay, and then just repeating that again
so you're rounding your back, pushing your tailbone all the way down towards the back
of your knees and then go the opposite way, sinking down and lifting up through your chest.
Okay, so again about eight to ten times for that exercise and then you're going to come
back to a neutral position. So with your back in a flat position, imagine you had a tree
of drinks just resting in your back, you're going to hold that position and then you want
to slide your right leg all the way along the mat and then once you feel your balance
you're going to lift that leg off. So you're reaching your tiptoes behind, get your balance
and then you're going to reach your opposite arm. Okay, so you're going to hold that for
a few seconds, think about pulling in your abdominals from the front and keeping your
back nice and steady and then lower that side down and you're going to go into that other
side. So you reach the opposite leg, lift up, try and keep your stomach muscles pulled
in, keep your tailbone tucked in and then just reach your opposite arm. Okay, and you
can just keep going one side to the other, making sure you're keeping your back nice
and steady and you can do that one eight to ten times as well, so on each side. And that's
a really good one to build the stability for walking and for running. And then from there
the last exercise we're going to do is just a child pose stretch. So if you sit back onto
your heels and you're going to stretch your arms all the way out in front, reach your
fingertips nice and long. Okay, and just take a couple of deep breaths in and out, you can
let your head rest down and then you're going to stretch over to your right hand side, so
you bring your arms all the way over to the side and you should feel more of a stretch
through these ribs. And just hold that for a couple of breaths in and out. And then the
same to the other side, all the way over. Again, just hold in that stretch and then
back to the center.
