Movement Challenge – Day Four
Movement Challenge – Day Four. Today’s Movement is a little more challenging. Don’t worry, though, we show you some modifications that will make this challenge accessible for most people. You’ll learn to improve motion and flexibility in your spine which is crucial for back health. Keep walking and don’t forget to practice all the movements each day.
Hey everyone, welcome to Day four of the movement challenge. I have Dr. Van Buren here just to help describe the movement today. So today we are going to start a new movement. We’ll have Dr. Perkins lie on the floor, and we’ve all been practicing getting down. She’s going to lay on her back, lay comfortably, extend her legs out. Now we want to make sure her low back is against the floor, so she’s going to rotate her pelvis down, and you may have to use your hands to do that. Once her low back is on the floor, she’s going to extend her arms over her head. Perfect. And now we’re going to roll over, but there’s a specific way to do this. We want to initiate the role of our shoulders. She’s going to look that way. Then she’s going to start by raising this arm, slowly rotating her body. So she’s going to rotate over. See how her spine is rotating, she’s not jerking, she’s not initiating with her hips or her legs. Perfect. She’s going to relax for a second, and then she’s going to come back. Same exact motion. She’s going to start by raising her right arm and shoulder, and slowly rotating her back. Again, no quick movements or jerking, no using her legs or knees. Because what we are trying to do is get her spine to rotate. That’s a great stretch. It’s a great way to get movement in your spine, top to bottom. So we’re going to show you a few things not to do. This is a difficult movement. For some of you, you might not be able to get your arms all the way over your head, and that’s fine. And the other thing you may find is you just get stuck. But we don’t want you to use your legs to start the movement – that’s a no no. Especially don’t do this. Don’t jerk over, don’t use a really violent motion where you just flop over. That we do not want. That is not going to help you. We are really trying to go for the motion in the spine. So if this is completely impossible to do, just start by doing the best you can. Just try initiating that movement. Remember to keep your low back against the floor. If you have help and someone can help you, they can actually help roll you over. So I’ll have Dr. Perkins do this again. Say you just can’t get started. She’s going to look that way, someone can actually start helping to get your shoulder going in that motion. See we’re trying to get that extension, get this rotation, and then kind of help you do that. See it’s nice and smooth, she’s not doing any flopping. And then the same thing, we’re going to come back, and we’re going to try to just slowly help pull her over. Somebody is going to pull you over, and then relax. That’s your movement for today. Make sure you get up off the floor correctly and work on this. This is a daily movement. Incorporate the other movements we have already been showing you and don’t forget your steps. Hopefully, you’re up to about 5 or 6,000 by now. And that’s a great motion to get more movement in your lives, so we’ll be back tomorrow with another video and we hope you have fun with these.