Spinal Stabilization Exercises:

Most of the patients that I speak to about core strength have the understanding that core strength is attained by strengthening the abdominals with sit-ups and crunches.  In realility, core strength is developed with exercises that help hold our backs straight.  Check this blog post for a little more on this.

Spinal stabilization exercises will help your back cope better with your activities of daily living.  Every time you perform a reaching motion your spinal stability muscles are tested.  Weak muscles lead to injury – spinal stabilization exercises will improve your core strength and help build injury resistance.

The goal of these exercises is to build strength in the muscles that support your spine while you are performing reaching motions with your arms and extension motions with your legs.  This series of exercise movements is basic and should be able to be performed without aggravating your back or neck.  That being said, unless otherwise instructed you should not begin these exercises during periods of acute flair-ups.  Likewise, although they are generally safe to perform and as I stated earlier should not be a source of aggravation, you should discontinue any exercise that you feel is aggravating your condition.  Now then – here are examples of basic spinal stabilization exercises.

This set of exercises requires that you begin on your hands and knees with your knees directly below your hips and your hands directly beneath you shoulders.  Make sure that your back is flat and that you resist swaying or tilting your body with this position.  I like to tell patients to imagine a glass of water balanced on their back and the goal is to make it through the exercises without spilling this imaginary glass.    

The photo below represents your starting position:

The photo below represents the first movement of the spinal stability series.  As you can see my arm is extended in front of my body.  Hold this position for ten seconds before returning to the neutral position demonstrated in the prior photo.  Perform this exercise with each arm.

The photo below represents the next movement of the spinal stabilization series.  As you can see my leg is extended behind my body.  Hold this position for ten seconds before returning to the neutral position demonstrated in the first photo.  Perform this exercise with each leg.

The photo below represents the next movement of the spinal stabilization series.  As you can see one of my legs is extended behind my body while the oposite arm is extended in front of my body.  Hold this position for ten seconds before returning to the neutral position demonstrated in the first photo.  Perform this exercise with the oposite arm and leg as well.

This series should be performed in sets of three.  If they are painful, you can cut the time that you hold the positions down to five seconds until your core gets strong enough to perform the movements for a full ten seconds.  Build core strength takes time and patience so don't expect overnight improvements.   Remember, a little soreness is expected while you are stregthening muscles.