Today I want to talk about a very common condition that affects so many people. Lower back pain and instability.
- Do you have issues with your lower back?
- Do you get instability, especially when you’re doing exercises, like walking, working out, standing, or sitting for too long?
- Do you get pelvic instability, which can cause what feels like deep pain, right in this area or into the hip, or sometimes even sciatic pain?
Why Many People Suffer From Lower Back Pain
https://youtu.be/KQfei4qEla8?rel=0
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The Piriformis Muscle – Often the Source of Low Back Pain
This goes back to a small muscle in your lower back called the piriformis. It actually sits about right here.
It’s one of the pelvic stabilizers that commonly gets overworked because of subluxation in the lower back, because of poor posture, and because of old injuries. This can lead to all kinds of problems.
Simple Exercises You Can Do to Relieve Pain and Pressure on the Piriformis
If you’ve been struggling with low back issues, or issues into the hips or down into the leg, this is an area I’d really recommend checking out. If you just push in this area, you’ll feel it’s a bit sore. It’s a bit tender. Sometimes you may even feel like a deep pain in this area.
So there’s exercises to work on what’s called piriformis syndrome. I’m gonna show you four simple exercises that you can do at home, starting today to help your body heal naturally from this.
Fire Hydrant In-Out
For the first exercise you need to get down on your hands and knees with your palms flat on the floor and shoulder-width apart. Your back should be relaxed and you should do the exercise on both sides.
What you’re gonna do is you’re gonna lift up one side and then go all the way back and then back down. And that’s one. You’re gonna do the same thing on the other side. You should do 15 to 20 of these and do one to 10 sets per day.
It’s a great thing to do prior to working out or afterwards, or part of your regular stretching or self-care routine. A couple of minutes a day can make a huge difference in this area.
HyperIce Massage Products for Piriformis Relief
Another thing you can do is use different types of modalities for this. So, I have a couple of different items here. These are Hypervolt products that we sell here in the office. I use them personally and they are used by many professional and elite athletes all around the world.
So this one is a handheld device. You can use this anywhere on your body, but this one works really good for the piriformis.
So there’s different settings. You can go soft, medium and hard. I tend to do hard for this one. You’ll go and you’ll use it:
- right around the hip.
- into the leg and IT band.
- right in the glute muscles.
- into the lower back.
You can use this for self-care, it works really well. Again, do it on both sides.
Glute Rolling Devices
Vyper
We also have an advanced foam roller called the Vyper. So it does what a normal foam roller does, but it also vibrates. So the vibration increases the effects.
So when you’re doing this one, what you’ll do is, you’ll go on your back and you’re gonna cross one leg over the other. And while I’m on here, I’m gonna turn the vibration on and slowly roll one inch per second, right in that same area.
I’m just going to roll all through that pelvic area, all around the hip, right into the attachment of the hamstring there. And again, we’re gonna do this on both sides.
Hypersphere
If you want to get even more specific, we have this little ball. Maybe you’ve used a lacrosse ball or a tennis ball? Well, this little ball is called the Hypersphere.
It does the same thing. It also vibrates. If you want to get real specific and get right on it, you’re gonna put it right in that same area. You will definitely feel it!
You’re just gonna go back and forth, left and right on the little piriformis muscle. And if this is an issue for you… it should be sore, maybe even a little uncomfortable, you just need to slowly roll through those different areas. And that’s gonna help release that tension during that time.
Bodyweight Jump Squats
There’s two other exercises that you can do that are real easy to do. One is just a simple jumping squat.
For this one, you’re just gonna go all the way down and jump up. Perform a bodyweight squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then jump explosively as high as you can. When you land, immediately jump again. You’ll do 15 to 20 repetitions of this.
Lateral Band Walks
The other one is a banded exercise. Place both legs between a mini band and position the band. If you take an exercise band and put it just above your knees, it should have a pretty good amount of tension. Stand with your legs about shoulder width apart.
Now walk sidestep 20 feet to the right and 20 feet to the left. Repeat one to two times.
If you do these four exercises regularly: the fire hydrant, the body rolling or massage, the jumping squat, and the banded lateral walks, you’re gonna resolve piriformis issues in a relatively short period of time. I would do it every day or every other day.
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