Mobilize Your Spine with a Foam Roller Video Tutorial

Using a Foam Roller to Help Mobilize Your Spine

The foam roller is a really great tool that you can use on your own at home to help loosen up the back and mobilize it, stretch out some of those muscles. All you need is, of course, the foam roller.using foam roller to mobilize spine

Start by putting this foam roller at the base of your spine. You’re going to want to sit up nice and tall and straight. It goes around the tailbone area. You can start, for beginners, by having your elbows on the foam roller and just leaning back, just giving yourself a nice stretch this way. Now, if you feel like you’re a little bit more stiff in the middle part of your back or maybe the upper part of your back, just move that foam roller up and just keep your butt on the ground. You can just lie back. Sometimes I like to hold my head, keeping a nice neutral head posture, as much as I can, and lean back as far as you can go. Some of us are going to be really flexible and lean back far, but some of us can just lean back this way.

Then if you would like, come back up, move that foam roller back a little bit more. Again, just give yourself a nice stretch. Keep your elbows in. You don’t want to tuck your chin too far into your chest because you don’t want to take that curve out. You just want a nice neutral head posture.

Now, for a little bit more advanced foam rolling, come back up, bring that foam roller right to the base of your spine or the tailbone area. Again, just start by leaning back. You can lean back on your elbows. This time, you’re going to pick up your hips, and then I like to have my arms either crossed across my chest like this. Sometimes I like to give my neck a little support like that. All you need to do is just move back and forth over the foam roller like this. Again, this is designed to loosen up the back. It’s a really great mobilization exercise. If I find an area where it feels a little bit more stiff than other areas, I just lean back over it slightly.

Now, if you really want to get a good stretch and you’re flexible enough, you can put your bum on the ground and you can lean back as far as you can. Keep those elbows in and hold that stretch until maybe for a few seconds. Just until you feel things loosen up. Bring your head back up, bring your hips up off of the ground, and just start moving a little bit more maybe towards the top of the neck. Sorry, the top of the shoulders and maybe down towards the low back. You’re going to have to move your feet if you’re doing this. In order to do it this way, you’re going to have to have a strong core. Maybe you can look at some of the core exercise videos as well.

That’s how to keep your back moving, everything mobilized while you’re at home. Of course, the best way my opinion is to get on the wobble chair, and do your spine molding. But this is a really great supplementary exercise as well.

© Copyright - Mind Body Spine - Victoria BC Chiropractor