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Video

Video: Lower back stretches, standing, for the office

By Mayo Clinic staff

Transcript

These are some lower back stretches that you can do at your workstation throughout the day to help stretch your low back and your hip muscles in a standing position. Stretches should be held for 15 to 30 seconds and should be strong but comfortable on the muscle groups you are stretching.

The first stretch that I want you to do is to hang on to the chair for stability and go ahead and grab your ankle and bring it up toward your buttock.

OK. You should be feeling the stretch on the front of your thigh here. If you have a hard time grabbing onto the ankle, you can grab your pant leg and that will stretch much the same, right into the front of the thigh. You can also do the same thing with your other leg.

The next stretch I want you to do is, you can go ahead and put your arms up like this and I want you to rotate your trunk in one direction. Make sure that you keep your shoulders square and your hips in straight alignment.

And what you should be feeling is a stretch all the way from the top, all the way to the bottom. Make sure your posture stays upright and that you don't tilt your trunk to one side or the other.

The final stretch that I want you to do is I'm going to have you place the hands on the small of your back, keeping your knees straight, go ahead and bend backward for me. You should be feeling the stretch right through the trunk, right in the center of your spine.

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July 24, 2007

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