Core Exercises And Stretches After Spinal Fusion- And For Everyone!

hey guys dr. Chris tienes today I want to go over with you the proper core exercises and stretches that you need to do if you've had a spinal fusion now these are great exercises to do just in general if you want to strengthen your core which kind of we all need to do anyways so pay attention even if you haven't had a spinal fusion but to go back to that spinal fusion when they fuse the spine regardless of what level it is they're making it stable and strong so we actually don't want to move that spine it's supposed to be in that one position so what does that mean it means that we still want to strengthen all that stuff around the spine but we don't want to flex and extend and twist into it to work on that strength because we want that fusion to do what it's supposed to do which is really important and also you want to make sure that you're stretching out some of the hip muscles and even some of these postural muscles too because what tends to happen is this and this he's kind of flexing forward a little bit just has almost a protective mechanism for that spine so I'm gonna show you some strengthening exercises and some stretches that will help get you stronger and protect that spine so let's get started first things first we're gonna lie right on down you can do this either in the bed or on the floor depending on what is comfortable for you also make sure that you have cleared all this with your doctor first you certainly don't want to jump right in to exercise after having surgery so just make sure that you get the okay so step number one is engage those are down mental muscles so that's just a little tiny belly button pull in not not an arch and not a flatten just a little pull in you're still breathing and doing that little Kegel those pelvic floor muscles those are actually part of your core too so try to do that little pull up and in there so you should feel that really deep that's your starting position and this is really important to keep this position throughout these exercises so making sure that's okay and I usually have people start with hands on their hip we're gonna add in a little March and what you want to pay attention to is that you're not arching or flattening your back right you're keeping that back in that comfortable position belly button is pulled in your breathing and you're not moving through the hips okay you're keeping everything stable or trying to stabilize around that spine that's exactly it it's around the spine the spine stay still and things move around it okay so that's kind of level one if that feels pretty easy again making sure you're keeping this form you can go ahead and do one leg making sure you're not pushing out or changing that spine position both legs come up and then it's a little extension from the hip down to the ground and I'm pressing my shoulder blades into the mat and again not arching my spine if I go too far then you can really see how I'm rocking and shearing force into that spine and you don't want to do that okay from here you could go ahead and straighten those legs pointing the toes just to get a little bit more stretch in there too and then alternating dropping one leg straight again how low you go depends on where you can keep those abdominal muscles engaged in that spinal position flat or your neutral basically okay so you don't have to get all the way to the ground that doesn't have to be the goal and then moving out of that position you want to do one leg at a time still keeping that neutral position that's where I see people lose it a lot is that they're just like poof and we don't want to do that Thanks so to stretch some of those hip rotators which are also muscles like I said that get tight this is one of my favorites if you cross one ankle over that leg if this feels good you stay right here if you want a little more you're gonna bring that leg right up to your chest that other leg and if you need even a little more you can cradle that other leg in that elbow left elbow and right elbow but if you feel a nice stretch here please don't add on to that okay so from there we're gonna get up and notice I rolled to my side first I didn't sit straight up so I'm not flexing into that spine stretching out the front of that hip so those hip flexors you can definitely put a pillow down on the ground if you need to for kneeling purposes you could do this stretch standing as well I find it works the best generally kneeling so if you put one foot forward do tiny little pelvic tilts so that we're really extending into this hip here and then coming forward and really all you're trying to do like I said to stretch this out you could do almost a standing lunge if you needed to if the kneeling is uncomfortable so I'm gonna stand right on up you don't have to get up this way but for me this is easier so it's almost that same position but that back leg is straight front knee is bent okay so those are two really good stretches to add also squeezing gently into those shoulder blades helps open up that posture okay we're gonna add two more abdominal ones and you need a band for this this is a fancy-schmancy band with handles but you don't have to have handles so just standing up nice and tall again pulling in that belly button and you're gonna add just little pulses so notice nothing else in my body is moving but those arms so my abs are having to work to stabilize me here okay and then the other one is gonna work kind of the side of the body so I'm gonna pull out so I have some resistance it's gonna feel like the band wants to do this and like this don't let it do that that's the whole point of the exercise so at home you might want to have this band just a little bit higher than I have it attached here soft bend in the knees and then push out okay notice again ban wants to pull me this way that's how you're working this by not letting it move so it's an anti rotational exercise and then one last one I forgot to show you on the ground for the butt heels together toes apart and you're gonna add that little hip lift this really gets to target the butt muscles if you bring those feet in a rotated rotated rotated position it feels like a Monday okay so try to start with 10 to 15 repetitions of all of these exercises they can be done daily just make sure that you're not sore again good for spinal fusion good for everybody because it's all about the core so thank you for tuning in today if you'd liked this video click that thumbs up button and hit subscribe for more videos to come thanks guys