Egoscue Static Back
The Egoscue Static back is my favorite go-to passive exercise to stack the body right and reduce back discomfort,. While being passive (you just get into position and lie there), the force of gravity against the relatively hard ground allows your body to work a lot, reducing rotation at both the pelvis and shoulder.
This E-cise is for you if:
- You have a sore back or disk injury
- You have a forward slumped posture
- You have a pelvis or shoulder disparity (different from the other side)
- You want to relax and improve your posture at the end of the day
- Lie on your back with your legs up over your inflatable large block or up over a chair/couch.
- Your arms are at 45 degrees and your palms up.Try to relax your upper back and notice if your low back is flat evenly from left to right.HOLD – and work on diaphragmatic breathing
Diaphragmatic Breathing (especially while in an aligned state) will help to create better thoracic stability AND lessen your stress levels. It’s not always easy to just “be less stressed”. This is an activity you can do to help with that. LOIS Breathing.
- Your arms are at 45 degrees and your palms up.Try to relax your upper back and notice if your low back is flat evenly from left to right.HOLD – and work on diaphragmatic breathing
Here is how to do ideal diaphragmatic breathing.
- Place one hand on your belly and one on your clavicle. Your lower belly hand should be the one moving, but you should also be breathing out to the sides of your ribs and into the back. You will not just rise up into your collar bone or neck.
- Breathe in and out, silently, through your nose
- Make your exhale longer than your inhale. *important as this is how to be in that less stressed state. You can also HUM on the exhale.
- Tongue on roof of mouth, teeth apart, lips together, eyes level, neck and shoulder at rest.
Additional Egoscue E-cises for Back Discomfort…
- Lie on your back with one leg up over your inflatable large block or chair
- Your other leg is straight out on the floor with it propped up from the side
- Your arms should be at 45degree with palms up. RELAX your upper body and notice that your low back should begin to get flatter to the floor the longer you are in this position.
- HOLD and relax, then repeat on the other leg
Air Bench - Stand with your back against a wall with feet and knees hip width apart and feet pointed straight.
- Walk your feet away from the wall while sliding your body down. Get in a “seated” invisible chair, with your hips higher than knees, knee not further than ankles, and your low back pressed into the wall.
- Hold for one minute or as comfortable.
For more information on Egoscue postural alignment (done online right at home) please contact me at rachel@theartofbeingwell.com
In the last blog post- I wrote about an e-cise routine that used my favorite postural exercise- the Static Back- to help reduce tight rounded shoulders with winged scapulas. While passive exercises can be very effective (why not use gravity to your favor?) ACTIVE e-cises are also excellent.
My favorite all-in-one active exercise in this case is Active Cobra.
Active Cobra Creates extension in the upper back, active work externally rotating the the shoulders. On your belly, press yourself up into a cobra position with your elbows on the ground. Hands should be in golfers position, with thumbs up. Keep head neutral, sink between shoulder blades, actively pressing out with hands (but not going anywhere- like you are pressing against a wall. You will feel the work happening in the shoulder, while the head remains neutral. The final part is to frog the legs, bending the knees and pressing the feet together. This E-cise, (minus the neutral neck) is a full body extension E-cise! (Given that gravity is a constant pull into flexion, getting our muscles into extension is great for them AND our posture!)
Ways of adding this in to a routine, would be static back, then the active cobra, finishing with standing arm circles...
For KIDS- flexed over their computer devices, have them switched from
Be in the cobra position to read a book or play a video game. This dramatically reduces the negative posture. I like to read books on the beach this way.
For more information or to schedule an appointment: contact Rachel Dixon at rachel@theartofbeingwell.com
