How to Stretch Your Back Properly

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Les Whitley, here today to talk to you about stretching the muscles of the back. The back is made of a series of complex muscles. It involves a lot of different range of motion, moving your arms, your trunk, left to right, side to side, up and down. Today we're going to talk about a few ways to incorporate regular stretching for your lower back to minimize stress strain and that tight feelings you may have. Beginning with the muscles of the upper back, involve your arms. Your arms are use in moving the muscles of the upper back, your lats, your upper back, your traps which are responsible for lifting and lowering your shoulders as well as moving your arms. In incorporating these stretches, think about placement of the hands for chasing the different angles. Arms down lower we'll hit where the upper part of the back in trapezius muscles. Arms to the front, we'll hit where the lower the lower lat as well as the middle part of the back. And then again arms up high where the upper part is the lat as well. In stretching these muscles emphasize nice, slow, controlled steady tension and not to overdo it in one particular way or the other. The lats stretch again, by moving the arm across the body get a nice tension. Again holding each of this stretch for anywhere from fifteen to twenty seconds, both sides of the body. Working your way to the lower body; the lower back especially, muscles begin there by disengaging the hips, relieving tension and allowing the body to slowly ease over, gradually working your hands down for nice constant tension even down into the hamstring as they work close together to keep the trunk stable. Again, each one of these stretches, ten, fifteen, twenty up to thirty seconds per to relax the muscles of the back. And again doing this on a regular consistent basis will prevent injury, to minimize the stress impact that the daily living can have."