Recommended Exercises
Degenerative Lumbar Spine Therapy
Pelvic Tilt Exercise
The following exercises will teach you to hold a pelvic tilt in various positions. The purpose of the posterior pelvic tilt is to decompress painful joints and open the nerve canals in the lumbar spine. These exercises have been organized in order from easiest to hardest. For this reason, we suggest that you start with the first exercise and move on to the next exercise only when you feel you have mastered the previous one. Hold each exercise for 30 seconds and repeat 10 times. Ultimately, you should be able to hold a posterior pelvic tilt while walking and performing regular daily activities. In the meantime, practice the pelvic tilt 3-4 times a day.
Hook Lying Posterior Pelvic Tilt:
Tighten the abdominal muscles and press lumbar spine into table.
Half Hook Lying Posterior Pelvic Tilt:
Tighten the abdominal muscles and press lumbar spine into table.
Supine Posterior Pelvic Tilt
Tighten the abdominal muscles and press lumbar spine into table.
Standing & Walking with Pelvic Tilt
Instructions:
The following exercises will teach you to hold a pelvic tilt in various positions. The purpose of the posterior pelvic tilt is to decompress painful joints and open the nerve canals in the lumbar spine. These exercises have been organized in order from easiest to hardest. For this reason, we suggest that you start with the first exercise and move on to the next exercise only when you feel you have mastered the previous one. Hold each exercise for 30 seconds and repeat 10 times. Ultimately, you should be able to hold a posterior pelvic tilt while walking and performing regular daily activities. In the meantime, practice the pelvic tilt 3-4 times a day.
Wall Standing Posterior
Pelvic Tilt:
Tighten the abdominal muscles and press lumbar spine into wall.
Standing Posterior
Pelvic Tilt
Tighten the abdominal muscles and tilt pelvis in a posterior direction.
Posterior Pelvic Tile
Walking:
Hold posterior pelvic tilt while walking.
Stretching Exercises
Instructions:
Hold each exercise for 30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times. Generally, these stretches can be done 3-5 times a day. These exercises are designed to stretch the lower back, providing decompression of the lumbar joints and opening of the nerve canals. Often we find that patients prefer one stretch over another so you may choose to do any or all of the three below.
Half Hook Lying Posterior Pelvic Tilt:
Sit down onto heels and repeatedly bend forward with trunk.
Purpose:
Repeated, gentle lumbar flexion will decompress painful joints and improve cartilage nutrition.
Repeated Double Knee to Chest:
Lie on back and pull knees to chest repeatedly in a comfortable range of motion.
Purpose:
Repeated, gentle lumbar flexion will decompress painful joints and improve cartilage nutrition.
Chair Flexion Stretch
Sit in a chair and pull the upper body toward the knees.
Purpose:
Lumbar flexion stretches decompress painful joints and opens nerve canals.
Sleeping Positions
Sleeping positions are very important when managing degenerative lumbar spine conditions. Proper positioning will allow a person to wake in the morning rested and feeling less pain. The pictures below demonstrate appropriate sleeping positions for people with degenerative lumbar spine conditions.
It is very important to hold the posterior pelvic tilt when sleeping. Sleeping in a “fetal” position on either side with the knees drawn up or on the back with the knees elevated is a good way to sleep because the pelvis naturally tilts posteriorly. Sleeping on the stomach with several pillows under the hips is also an acceptable position. Conversely, sleeping on the back or on the stomach are not good sleeping positions because the pelvis is naturally forced in the opposite direction causing painful joint pressure and nerve pinching.
