This post has been updated since it was originally published on February 18, 2022.
If you are still working from home, odds are you’re spending the majority of your time seated at a desk. Throughout the day, you may not remember to be intentional with your posture, which can leave you susceptible to back pain. One way you can reduce your back pain is through stretching and getting regular movement. But if you’re new to stretching or unsure of the right technique to properly target the right muscles, where do you begin? We asked Erica Ziel, a trainer and core exercise specialist, what the best stretch is for reducing your back pain and feeling your best.
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To understand how to target your back pain, you first have to know what causes it, or at the least makes it worse. Besides the obvious one like poor posture, some other common causes include incorrect form during workouts and weak abdominal muscles. If the abdominals are weak, this can lead to imbalances in your core, and can cause excess pressure on your back, leading to soreness and discomfort. Stretching and building strength in your core is the best way to reduce this. When you’re pressed on time but want to get moving, Ziel recommends doing standing cat cow stretches to target your core muscles.
“Standing cat cows are easy to do in so many places. You can do them in your kitchen at the counter top, using the back of the couch, the counter in the bathroom, a bench at the playground and so on,” She explains, “These standing cat cows are absolutely incredible to help lengthen and stretch your spine while strengthening your deep core!”
How To Do A Standing Cat Cow
1. Standing arms length away from the back of a chair or counter top, walk your legs back until your back is about parallel to the ground.
2. Inhale as you lightly press your hands into the chair/counter top, breathing out to the sides and back of your ribcage.
3. Exhale as you gently engage your pelvic floor and begin rounding your spine up toward the sky, one vertebrae at a time.
4. Inhale to return to your starting position by slowly articulating and lengthening your spine.
5. Repeat for 5 to 10 repetitions.
Standing cat cow is a stretch that doesn’t require a ton of space or fancy equipment. But besides that, what are some other ways you can tweak your habits during the day to reduce back pain? One of Ziel’s top recommendations is just taking time to breathe. “Think about breathing out to the sides of the rib cage and into the low back. Try low back breathing laying on your stomach, something that’s easy to practice when you first get into bed at night. Even just bringing awareness to breath can help to decrease stress and sometimes that pain in the low back can be in part due to stress as well.” Doing cat cows throughout the day when you’re feeling stiff and remembering to relax and unwind when you’re getting tense or stressed, are two ways you can reduce discomfort and feel your best.
