The exercise is done with the support of your arms AT ALL TIMES. If you feel you have gone too far you can return yourself back to the starting position by arm strength alone. This way you will remain in control at all times and avoid any additional stress on the lower back.

You’ll need a non-sliding chair that’s strong enough to support your weight, preferably without arms, and a support on the floor between your feet. This can be a strong box or a couple of thick books. Remember, read ALL the directions for this exercise, including how to get out of the final position, BEFORE attempting it.

[1] Look at the first photograph. Here the exercise is actually performed without using a support. If you think you may NOT be able to bend forward to the extent of placing the fingertips on the floor, place a suitable support of some kind between your feet on the floor.

Sit on the front edge of the chair, with your weight EVENLY placed on both bottom bones and with your feet placed squarely and securely on the floor slightly in front of the knees.

SUPPORT the weight of the upper body with the hands on the knees, as shown. The back muscles should be COMPLETELY RELAXED and all weight resting on the arms.

Slowly drop the chin down in the direction of the chest as far as comfortable. This initiates a forward bend in the upper back and a stretch in the spinal chord.

[2] Leaning on the arm, let both arms bend slowly, allowing the body to incline forwards FROM THE WAIST. Your breathing should be completely natural - do NOT hold your breath for any reason.

Caution : if at any time you feel you must return to the beginning position, use your arms to do so. Do not pull yourself back to the starting position with the back muscles you’re trying to stretch.

When sufficiently forward, take all your weight on your left arm - WITHOUT letting your body rotate - and bend the right elbow.

[3] Now let the left arm bend and support all your weight on the elbow of the second arm. Bend the first arm now, and place it on the other leg. You should now be supporting your weight evenly on both elbows. Rest for a while. There should be little or no pain because you are taking the weight on your arms.

[4] Now we begin the real stretch. If you feel comfortable in this position, support your weight again on one elbow and reach down to the floor with the fingertips of the other arm. If the floor looks as though it is too faraway, rest this hand on the support. Taking your weight on this hand, bring the other down from your leg and rest on both hands now.

[5] Take slightly deeper breaths than normal, but at an unhurried, unstressed rate. You should feel a pleasant stretching in the lower back, but no pain.

[9] To return to the start position, lift the head up until you are looking forward. Rest on one hand and place the other in a support position on your leg.

[10] Breathe in, take all your weight on this arm, and bring the other arm into a similar support position. You can now lift yourself back into the original sitting position using BOTH arms. Now let the breath out and relax there for a moment.

This is a key exercise and may be done WHENEVER the lower back feels tight, even in the office. In addition to the stretch in the lower back, you may also feel a stretch in the muscles of the bottom and at the rear inside of the legs. Refer to the picture below for details of the muscles involved.

I find this stretch is very effective for relieving low-back pain, even though it does not actually stretch the lower back in any way. It stretches the hip flexors - a group of powerful muscles which play a major role in shaping the lumbar curve, especially if the abdominal muscles are weak. Tight and/or inflexible hip flexors are often the reason why people with back problems cannot lie face up with the legs outstretched without discomfort. This muscle group is also often implicated in athletes with low-back pain, especially those with incorrect strengthening exercises for the abdominal muscles.

The hip flexors act to pull the knee to the chest. Therefore to stretch them, the thigh needs to be taken backwards relative to the trunk. Look at the picture [1] of the starting position: kneeling on one leg (the BACK leg), which is placed as far back as it will go and supporting the remainder of the body’s weight on the other (FRONT) leg. Notice that the foot of the front leg is well in front of the knee.

[2] Place the hand on the bottom, directly behind the hip joint and with the elbow pointing backwards, as shown. Use this hand to push the hip of the back leg forwards as far as it will go - this requires that this hip rotates away from, and in front of, the pushing hand.
Note, this direction is crucial; if the hips are not in the recommended position, the thigh muscles, rather than the hip flexors will be stretched.
The starting position requires that the hip joints be square (at 90 degrees) to the line of the legs.

With the back leg’s hip rotated forwards(and held for the duration of the exercise), keep the body vertical by placing your other hand on the knee of the front leg, as shown [4]. If balance is difficult, support yourself by placing this hand on a chair or a wall.

[3] Let both hips sink in the direction of the floor, only as far as you can maintain the forward rotation of the back hip and the trunk’s alignment relative to the floor. Neither of these constraints may be sacrificed to achieve a lower position.

Sinking towards the floor takes the back leg away from behind the body with the main stretch felt at the front of the back leg, high up near the joint. You may also feel a stretch at the back of the front leg.

Remain in the stretch position for the usual 10 breath period, and use the arm on the front leg to help you return to the start position. Repeat directions for the other leg.

Again, take note whether one set is tighter than the other. If so, on the next occasion stretch the tightest side first and again (i.e. a 2nd time) after the not-so-tight side is stretched.

• Don’t stretch to the point where breathing is strained
• Stretching should never be painful (Refer Stretch Pain Scale)
• Stretch only when muscles are warm
• Hold the stretch in a comfortable position
• Stretch before and after (and even during) an extended period of exercise
• Concentrate on relaxing the area being stretched
• Flexibility training should be regular - at least 3 times a week
• PREGNANT women should only do flexibility training UNDER SUPERVISION

There seems to be a threshold effect in most people - either no exercise or too much. The main reasons exercise programs fail is because there is no clearly visualized goal (purpose) to the program, or because the exercise program is unsuitable.

Without a goal, any exercise program is likely to become perfunctory at best or a mechanical chore at worst. Either way, there is little incentive to continue and you increase your risk of injury. Even with the best of intentions, many break their routines after only a week or two and stop completely within 4 to 6 weeks.

Those of us who’ve suffered with neck or back problems are more motivated to continue, at least while the exercises seem to be fixing the problem. Unfortunately, ending the program when you get better is leaving the job only half done. Remember, it was the state of your back’s fitness before the injury that contributed to the problem in the first place.

It IS necessary to strengthen the body against the likelihood of a recurrence. If that’s what you’re after, I can tell you that you DON’T need a comprehensive gym training program, but you do need a number of strengthening exercises of the sort that can be done at home. The critical point is that you do need to DO them.

Most of us ‘weekend athletes’ who play sports like golf or tennis and who have a history of back or neck problems, will need a few additional exercises. Such activities have high demands on spinal extension-with-rotation and require strong waist and back muscles. Here, I would recommend you get advice from a good physiotherapist or Pilates trainer AND obtain your own copy of the two books I have already mentioned - preferably both if you can. I believe it will be one of the best investments you will ever make.

As mentioned previously, many people begin programs and give up after a short time. As well as embarking on programs that are unsuitable or too ambitious, some of these people drop out because they fail to take into account personal lifestyle factor. For example,it’s impossible to do your stretching with your 3 year old crawling all over you. It’s also very unlikely you will even feel like exercising after a 14-hour day at work. Part of the success of any exercise program is to choose the right time and the right location for your exercise and not to take on too much.

The correct speed of movement is just as critical for strengthening exercises as it is for stretching to get the best results and to get them safely.

In the positive phase of any exercise, each increment of movement must be achieved by muscular contraction and NOT by any momentum incorrectly generated in an earlier part of the movement. This cannot be overemphasized and is second only to the importance of form.

Don’t make the movements too slow either. As a general rule:

• Positive contractions should take about 2 - 3 seconds to complete &,
• Negatives about twice as long
• Don’t pause too long either in the extended OR contracted phase of a movement

Good form refers to precision of movement and involves:

1. Correct positioning BEFORE commencing the movement
2. Controlled action (that doesn’t use gravity or momentum to complete the movement)

Whether we’re talking about stretching, strengthening, weight-training or playing sport, good form is the most significant determinant of improving performance and avoiding injury. No amount of repetitions (reps) or sets of reps can compensate for executing an exercise or movement incorrectly.

Also see speed of movements

When standing, the overall balance of the body should be where the feet evenly support the body when they are placed directly under the hip joints. The placement of the body’s weight should be evenly distributed over the 3 points that form a triangle on the feet. That is:

There should be no pressure forward on the toes or backward on the heel. By also placing pressure on the outside edge of the foot, you may feel as if you’re creating an arch where the arch should be. Try to maintain this tripod position whenever standing and especially when lifting.

Stretch Pain Scale : This is a simple scale of 0 to 10. Zero being no stretch and where no pain is felt and no stretch occurs. Ten, on the other hand, is where the pain level is extremely uncomfortable to unbearable. The position cannot be maintained.