A B C D54 WDDTY | ISSUE 01 | AUG/SEP 2019 FACEBOOK.COM/WDDTYAUNZ
HEALTHY LIVINGSpinal fluidity
- From lying with feet at least hip-width apart, as you inhale, raise the pelvis
into a bridge pose, lifting into the chest rather than the lower back. You
don’t need to come up far—start halfway to gauge the sensations and feel
the support of drawing up the belly. Your arms can come up and over the
shoulders to reach above your head (as shown) or stay down by your hips as
the pelvis lifts—each has different sensations in the back and spine, so see
what suits you. - On the exhale, lower the spine back down, vertebra by vertebra.
- Lift up and down, eventually holding the pose up for as long as you feel
neither stress nor strain in the body or breath. - Roll to your side to counter the pose with the gentle forward bend of a side-
lying fetal position.
Exploring your spinal range of motion
- Sit in a‘z-legs’position, with the left leg bent in and the right bent out in a
wide seat and the left hand on the ground. Lift the right arm, bent so that the
forearm is parallel to the ground. Inhale length in the spine and exhale to
twist to the left, continuing this motion comfortably. - Then with either the left elbow or hand on the ground, take the right arm
up to where you can comfortably breathe easily as you lengthen the right
side of the body and spine. This may be up by the right ear, reaching out at
shoulder height or lower if need be. - Come to the other side, respecting different needs on each side.
at any given time. If you find that any posture aggravates your
symptoms or sets off internal alarm bells, back off to a place where
it feels you can soften and breathe with the physical sensations.
If there is no position that feels safe, stop doing the exercise.
However, with each final position there is a gentle pulsing motion
to help the myofascia become more pliable in that direction. You
can explore this to help loosen tissues locked into patterns that
exacerbate symptoms.
Some side-bending and twisting is included, as moving away
from the source of pain can decrease pressure on nerve roots for
those with lateral stenosis. So if the pain is on the right, a bend or
twist to the left may make space on the right-hand side and relieve
pressure and pain there. Turning to the left would then need to be
done very gently, with deep listening and feeling out the range of
motion, which may differ greatly to the right.
The exercises are floor-based and can be a very helpful if done
before a short or long walk to allow for the natural side-to-side
motions of the spine, freeing up through the chest and shoulders.
They can also be used to create
space in the spine in preparation
for other exercises.REFERENCES
1 Int J Surg, 2017; 44: 329–38
2 Clin Microbiol Infect, 2016; 22: 178.e1–9ABOVE A herniated disc
bulges past the annulus
to compress the nerves
or spinal cordLEFT The spinal cord should
form an S-shape of vertebrae
separated by cartilage discsRIGHT In spinal sternosis,
the nerves and/or spinal
cord are compressed by the
surrounding jointLEFT Ideal postural alignment
(A) contrasted with common
misalignments:
(B) Kyphosis-lordosis posture
(C) Flat-back posture
(D) Sway-back posture