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If you suffer from pesky aches and pains, there's a good chance they are in one of three areas. The low back, hips and neck are common problem areas that cause discomfort and impact our daily movement.
Our lifestyles are often to blame: Sitting too much and staring down at a phone causes tight hips and places strain on the neck and back. Luckily, there are exercises you can do that can help counteract the effects of these bad habits.
Danielle Gray, Start TODAY fitness trainer and founder of Train Like A Gymnast, stopped by TODAY to share exercises that will help improve mobility and reduce pain in these areas. Perform these exercises five times a week or however much you can manage with your schedule and fitness level, says Gray. “Meet yourself where you’re at and do what you can.”
Low Back
From long commutes to couch sessions binging the latest TV series, many of us spend way too much time sitting. A sedentary lifestyle causes a laundry list of health issues — and back pain is one of them.
“If you sit for more than 8 hours a day, it increases your risk of back pain by more than 50%," says Gray. "But by simply incorporating occasional 30-minute movement breaks and a few targeted core-strengthening exercises, you could put up a great defense.”
If your low back is always aching, focusing your attention on your core can make a big difference. Here are three of Grays' go-to core mobility exercises to help ease back pain.
Seated butterfly rotations
Start seated on the floor with upright posture. Bring the bottoms of your feet together and let your knees fall to the sides toward the floor. Grab your left ankle with your right hand and place your left hand on the left knee. Slowly twist your torso toward the left (leaning toward the right), straightening the left arm and applying light pressure. Look up toward the ceiling. Come back through center and perform on the right side. Continue alternating for 10 reps or for 30 seconds.
Standing Back Rounders
Start standing tall with feet hips-width apart. Lightly bend the knees and round your back, letting your head fall toward your chest. Gently grab the back of the thighs, right above the knees, with your hands. Hold here or gently sway side to side. You can also perform this on a single side by stepping one foot back and grabbing behind the front knee with both hands.
Seated Back Rounders
Start seated on the ground with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Glue your legs together and either wrap both arms around your shins or around your thighs under your knees. Round the back and drop the chin toward your chest. Hold or gently sway side to side.
Hips
Another area that suffers from a sedentary lifestyle is our hips. Sitting for extended periods causes our hip flexors to shorten and tighten, which can cause pain in other areas as well, like the low back and knees.
“You could lose up to 10% of hip mobility each decade — but intentional, targeted exercises can help you reclaim lots of your potential,” says Gray. “Problems in the hips could domino down the kinetic chain causing knee, ankle and foot problems.”
Here are some at-home exercises you can do daily to improve hip strength and mobility.
Hip airplanes
Stand behind a chair with your feet hips-width apart. Shift your weight into your right foot and grab onto the back of the chair. Hinge at the hips, letting your left leg float straight up and back until you form a straight line from your left heel to the crown of your head. From this position, externally rotate the hip opening up toward the left side of the room so that your hips are stacked on top of each other. Then, internally rotate the hip toward the right side of the room. Continue alternating keeping the standing leg still. Then switch sides.
Diagonal lunge rocks
Start standing tall with your feet hips-width apart and your hands on your hips. With your right foot, take a small step out to the right on a diagonal, bending the knee and leaning slightly into the right leg into a mini lunge. You can shift the hips from side to side in this lunge position. Come back through center and perform on the left side. Continue alternating.
Captain Morgan holds
Stand next to a wall, high chair back or piece of exercise equipment. Stand tall with good posture and your hands on your hips. Shift your weight into the outside foot (further from the wall) and bring the inside knee up toward your chest at a 90-degree angle. Push your knee into the wall and hold. Be sure to keep the core engaged and feel the outer hip and glute working. Release and then perform again for a few reps before switching to the opposite side.
Shoulders and neck
“Tech neck is real. Poor posture and mobility can lead to headaches, neck pain, shoulder popping and even poor breathing and oxygen intake," says Gray. "Specific mobility exercises for the thoracic spine can improve shoulder range by over 20% and drastically reduce neck pain for people in their 40s to 60s.”
She recommends adding these mobility exercises for the upper body to your routine:
Yoga block upper back openers
Start seated on the ground with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor in front of you. Place a yoga block about 12 inches behind your back. Choose an angle based on your mobility; the higher the block edge the more challenging the move. Hold the yoga block in place while you lean back and rest your upper back, right between your shoulder blades, on the block. Then, reach both arms straight up and back overhead, as you let your head fall back and down toward the ground to drape your upper body over the block. Hold here for a few breaths. Come out of the pose (you can use your hands to support your head as you bring it back upright). Repeat 3-5 times.
Cobra lifts
Start lying on the ground on your stomach with legs extended and palms on the ground framing your face. Lift the palms and forearms so that they hover above the ground. Engage the glutes and back to raise the chest off the ground. When you lift as high as you can from this position, press the hands into the ground and straighten the arms, raising your torso off the floor. Slowly lower back down toward the ground. When you get halfway down, raise the palms and forearms off the ground again for the rest of the way. Stop when you're hovering an inch above the ground and then repeat.
Chin tucks
Stand tall with your back and head against a wall. Pull your chin back toward your neck pressing your head into the wall. Hold for a breath and then release. Repeat.
Standing candy cane bends
Stand tall with feet hips-width apart. Rest your hands on the front of your hips. Look straight up toward the ceiling and then slowly arch the back, bringing your gaze toward the back of the room. Go as far back as you are able to while remaining stable through the core. In a controlled manner, come back to standing tall and repeat.
