This video is going to show you an exercise to help stabilize and strengthen the lower back for chronic low back conditions. If you’re new to this channel, what I do is I give tips and strategies for people to understand chronic spinal conditions like disc bulges, sciatica, L4, L5, disc bulge, L5, S1 disc bulge, cervical disc bulges, like C5, C6 or C4 C5. I also provide a variety of exercises and techniques to help with these conditions. We see a lot of people in our office with these chronic spinal conditions that affect their life and their abilities. We also help people improve their posture and work with people that have scoliosis. We do corrective chiropractic care to help you recover through these chronic conditions.
I’m Dr. Walter Salubro, a chiropractor in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. If you’re looking for some guidance, this is the place to be. What we do in our office is analyze the spine and posture and correlate it with the patient’s complaints and symptoms like chronic back pain, leg pain or other health issues they may have. We use non-surgical corrective methods to work on restoring spinal conditions, spinal alignments, and posture which helps remove pressure off the nervous system and gets the body to heal naturally without drugs and surgery.
The first exercise is called the bird dog, and will be demonstrated in two ways, one being the modified version. There are many muscles involved in this exercise including your erector spinae muscles, which are your lower lumbar, as well as your mid back muscles. You are also working a big muscle called the multifidus muscle, which is an important stabilizer in the low back. From the extension of the leg done in this exercise, the gluteal muscles, specifically the gluteus maximus is engaged. The engagement of this muscle is very important because it helps move the hip back into extension. When this muscle is not activated fully, the lumbar spine muscles become more activated and are overused causing the firing pattern coordination to be thrown off. Every time you walk and extend your hip backwards, the extension of your hamstring fire first, the gluteal muscles fire right after and the low back muscles are third to fire. The gluteus maximus is the major extensor of the thigh, if it is not activated fully or is weak, then the low back muscles which would normally fire third, become more activated, which can contribute to your back condition.
The starting position of the modified version is on all fours, so on your hands and knees making sure that your back is as leveled as possible, keeping your head lined with your shoulders. Your arms being longer than your thighs is the reason you will be slightly inclined. The original version involves the crossing over of your leg, but the modified version will be a one sided hip extension. From this starting position, you will chose either the right or left leg to start with. Lift the leg of you choice up, into an extension ensuring that you stay leveled. Keep the opposite leg that is bent, in a 90° angle, right under the hip for better stability.
Your foot is up, your thigh is leveled with your back, and your gluteal muscles are activated. Stay in this position for one second and then put your foot and leg down, keeping your knees in a 90° angle. Then, lift your other foot and leg up. Alternate back and forth between each leg, doing 1 set of 10 repetitions, 10 on each side. If it is tolerable, then repeat the set 3 times with a 2-3 second break in between each set. This exercise can be considered either beginner or intermediate depending on the person’s condition. It is suitable for anyone with chronic back pain or recovering from back pain, disc bulges, lumbar disc bulge, sciatica, piriformis syndrome, and anything related to the lower back.
The second version of this exercise, the more challenging version is the complete bird dog. Start on all fours, like the modified version, with knees bent 90°.
Then extend either the right or left leg, and the opposite arm and alternate for 10 repetitions, holding for one second. Make sure to watch your balance. Take a break after one set, and if this exercise is tolerable continue do two more sets.
There will be gluteal activation, just like the modified version. This version is more challenging because one of your arms is lifted off the ground. You have gravity acting more in your favor in a criss-cross position, which means if you have the left arm lifted and right leg lifted, the left side of your upper back is activated and the right side of your lower back is activated. This will result in right and left brain activation which is neurologically good for rehabilitating your spinal nervous system. This is also a good proprioception, joint position sense exercise because you are activating your joint position sensors by trying to balance on that one arm and knee. There you have the bird dog exercise, and the modified version.
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Here are more core stability and stabilizer exercises for the lower back:
1) 4 GREAT Core Strengthening Exercise For L4 L5 Disc Bulge L5 S1 Disc Bulge https://youtu.be/2oy3SyoSsUo
2) 4 ADVANCE Core Strengthening Exercises | L4 L5 Disc Bulge Exercises | Dr Walter Salubro Chiropractor In Vaughan https://youtu.be/DQgA3GCsPbE
More L4 L4 Disc Bulge Related Videos
1) Can L4 L5 Disc Bulge Get Back To Normal Again? Does L5 S1 Disc Bulge Get Back To Normal Again?
https://youtu.be/ffzby1iDPaQ
2) L4-L5 and L5-S1 Discs Bulge Treatment without Surgery https://youtu.be/Mhtkq0rM1gs
3) 8 Best Exercise For L4 L5 Disc Bulge Exercises COMPILATION VIDEO https://youtu.be/aSKuGWau5_Y
4. 6 Step L4 L5 Disc Bulge Treatment L4 L5 Bulging Disc Treatment by Dr. Walter Salubro
https://youtu.be/aSKuGWau5_Y
