5 ways to mobilise your spine

Mobility is your ability to actively move your joints through a full range of motion with ease and control.

It’s part of a complex of physical attributes including flexibility, stability and strength. Each related but different.

For example, flexibility often has an impact on your mobility but it is not the same thing. Flexibility is the ability of the muscle to stretch when needed – think of it like rubber band. A new pack of rubber bands will yield a good amount of stretch, but have you ever found an old rubber band at the back of the cupboard – try and stretch that and you’ll find it won’t give and may even snap (thankfully muscles don’t generally snap, but you get the idea)!

Mobility refers to the joint range of motion. So while tightness and inflexibility in the muscles may impact the range of movement at a joint, there can be other anatomical deviations that affect mobility. Including bone spurs that restrict motion at a joint.

Furthermore, while mobility refers to the whole variety of movement at a joint, flexibility often refers to a single action. For example circumduction of the hip joint is a combination of flexion, extension, adduction and abduction. Each of those actions require different sets of muscles, and muscle flexibility.

So let’s get to the juicy bit – to improve mobility you need to perform exercises that take your joints through a full range of motion.

1. The pelvic tilt (saggital plane)

Lie on your back with both legs bent and your feet flat on the floor.
Keep a hips distance between both legs.
Slowly tilt your pelvis by tightening your buttock and stomach muscles, flattening your back onto the floor.
Your tail bone should roll off the floor.
Relax, then tilt your pelvis in the other direction, arching your lower back.

2. Spinal twists (transversal plane)

The lying twist helps with mobility of your trunk and your hips.
Lie on your back with both legs bent and your feet flat on the floor and your arms spread out to the sides.
Keeping your legs together, drop your knees down to one side whilst simultaneously turning your head away in the opposite direction.
Hold this position, before you bring your legs and head back to the starting position and repeat on the other side.
Increase the depth to which you lower your knees.

3. Pelvic hitch (frontal plane)

Lie on your back with your legs straight.
Tighten the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles and keep your buttocks and back on the floor.
Hitch one side of your pelvis upwards by tightening more with the muscles on this side.
Relax back down and hitch the other hip up.
Continue this movement, making sure you do not roll your pelvis to one side or the other.

4. The dolphin (advanced saggital plane)

Standing with feet hip width apart.
Soften the knees.
Tuck chin to chest.
Roll down the spine, vertebra by vertebra.
The point at which your hips start to tilt, take the back into extension, with shoulders and elbows back and head arched back.
Come up into extension.
Repeat.

5. Full spinal mobility warm-up (all planes)

Start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Find a neutral position with your back and neck.
There should be a gentle dip in your lower back and neck.
Begin with moving the head and neck in all directions, look over your shoulder, under your armpit, between your legs, towards the ceiling. Find as many different places to lokk around the room.
Add in some shoulder rotations – one at a time, together – and scapula movement bringing the scapular together and pressing them apart.
Don’t forget the head and neck (can you see more of the room by shifting the shoulders).
Find some rotation in the chest.
Don’t forget the head, neck and shoulders (can you see more of the ceiling).
Add in some pelvic tilts and consider the connection between the head and tail. Flex, extend, twist, rotate.
Don’t forget the head, neck, shoulders and chest (can you see further under your armpits or over your shoulders).

If you want to learn more exercises for managing low back pain, join me tomorrow evening, Tuesday 1st December at 7.30pm alongside physiotherapist Nikki Robinson and yoga therapist Claire Randall for a free Zoom workshop.

I will be delivering 5 more exercises addressing mobility, stability, flexibility, strength and a self-massage technique for trigger points.

Sign up here.