Recovery shouldn’t stop when you leave Balanced You Clinic. It’s important to supplement your treatment with proper stretching, exercise, diet, and stress relief. Here are a few of our favorite stretches and movements that allow you to work on your mobility at home, in your own time, at your own pace.
Chest Opener on the Stability Ball
Chest and Hip Stretch with Bolsters
Arm and Chest Stretch on the Wall
Epley Maneuver for Vertigo Symptoms
Epley Maneuver for Vertigo Symptoms
This video includes a wonderful description of how to use the Epley Maneuver to alleviate symptoms of vertigo.
Low Back Stabilizers
When we suffer from low back pain, often times we think that if we “stretch it out”, it provides the relief we crave. And yes, it will work for a short period of time, but frequently the cause of low back pain can be as simple as weak core and glutes. This exercise can help stabilize and strengthen key muscles and provide lasting relief.
As you are learning this exercise, start on your back. When you know what it should feel like you can do this sitting, standing or walking.
Dead Bug
So yes, the name is funny, but this simple and effective stretch is no laughing matter. It provides support for the low back, while also engaging the lower abs and providing relief for mild low back pain.
Chest Opener on the Stability Ball
While lying flat on the floor can provide necessary support for our head, neck, and back, adding a stability ball can increase range of motion, and further deepen beneficial stretches. This chest opening exercise helps stretch the inner most areas of our chest, and using the stability ball gives support and allows for a wider targeted area.
Neck Stabilizers
Hot Stone Massage is a technique that uses lava stones that have been worn smooth by the sea, that are heated, and then placed on the body. Neck stabilizers allow us to target that “crick” we might feel in our neck without adding extra stress or tension by trying to “work it out”. Some neck pain can be exacerbated by our attempts to “stretch” the muscles and relieve the tension. This is one of our favorite ways to help relieve the stress without causing additional damage to the neck and spine.
Superman Stretch
The Superman Stretch gets its name from the way Superman would fly around, saving the day, in old comic books, tv shows, and movies. This stretch won’t help you fly, but it can help provide strengthening of the back muscles, as well as core stabilization.
Stability Ball Bridge
Bridges are useful for strengthening the core muscles, low back, and glutes. Using a stability ball can help add an extra level of engagement, without sacrificing comfort and support.
Standing Cat Cow Stretch
Standing Cat Cow Stretch is a versatile modification of the standard Cat Cow Stretch common in most yoga and mobility practices. This stretch is best suited for those who might have trouble working at the floor level, and is a great stretch to help provide relief anywhere, at any time of day.
Wall Angels
Getting a good chest stretch can be hard if you don’t have proper equipment, but Wall Angels are a simple and effective way to work the chest and shoulder complex. Make sure your hands touch the wall for the best result.
Stability Ball Wall Squats
Everyone knows that squats are one of the best exercises for strengthening legs, glutes, low back, and core, but sometimes we need a little extra help. Adding in a stability ball and doing squats against the wall can add another level of comfort and stability for those who need it, while still providing a great workout for our lower body and core.
Chest and Hip Stretch with Bolsters
This passive stretch supports the head and neck with a bolster or towel rolled along the spine, and allows for the shoulders and chest to fold open and wide in a relaxed position, without forcing the stretch, and using the bodies own weight to deepen the stretch.
Cat Cow Stretch
Cat Cow is one of the most common, and recognizable, poses in yoga. This stretch is incredibly effective for releasing tense muscles in the chest, neck, and back, as well as developing spinal flexion.
Arm and Chest Stretch on the Wall
This stretch focuses on nerves in the neck and feed into the arms. This is a wonderful stretch for tightness in the chest, shoulder, neck, and arm. Keep this pose soft, and do not stretch past the point of tension to the point of pain.
Immune Boosting Qi Gong
Mark Drake has shared a wonderful short practice to open the Lungs and stirs the Wei Qi (Immune boosting energy). If you are unable to join us for Qi Gong in our studio, you can practice at home. Mark suggests doing this 2 times a day if you can.