Relax Your Back With A Roller Exercises and Strategies to Eliminate Pain

Pamela Kihm

Relax Your Back With A Roller Exercises and Strategies to Eliminate Pain

Pamela Kihm

PainFreeChoices® http://www.painfreechoices.com

Copyright © 2007 Pamela Kihm All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means for any purpose without the prior written permission by Pamela Kihm Print Editor May Ruth Spitzer Technical Editor John Urish Photography John Urish Illustrations Flora Hill, John Bauer First Printing 2007 ISBN 0-9779102-1-0 Published by PainFreeChoices® Evanston, Illinois Email: sales@painfreechoices.com Web: http://www.painfreechoices.com

Table of Contents

How This Book Can Help You ................................................ 1

Read with Your Knees Supported by the Roller...................... 2

Sit with the Roller Supporting Your Lower Back ................... 3

Comfortable Posture, from Bottom to Top.............................. 4

Free Your Shoulders & Your Back, Part I ............................. 6

Free Your Shoulders & Your Back, Part II............................ 8

Rotate Around the Roller in a Sitting Position ..................... 10

Look Up with a Comfortable Lower Back and Neck............ 12

The Roller, a Table, and You................................................. 14

Flexibility for Better Balance ................................................ 16

Flexible Feet for Comfortable, Powerful Walking ............... 18

Knee Alignment for More Comfortable Back and Legs....... 20

Roller Against the Wall Part I ............................................... 22

Standing on Roller ................................................................. 24

Roller Against the Wall Part II.............................................. 26

Roller Against the Wall Part III ............................................ 28

Leg Bending to Lengthen and Relax Your Back .................. 30

Leg Lengthening To Relax Your Back.................................. 32

One Leg Resting on the Length of the Roller ....................... 34

Regain Flexibility Along Your Spine .................................... 36

Relax Your Back by Resting Your Front on the Roller........ 38

Arms on the Roller While Kneeling ...................................... 40

Relax Your Back by Sinking off of the Roller ...................... 42

On Your Side, Arm on Roller ................................................ 44

Lie on the Roller to Relax Your Back, Part I........................ 46

Lie on the Roller to Relax Your Back, Part II ...................... 48

Lie on the Roller to Relax Your Back, Part III..................... 50

Lie on the Roller to Relax Your Back, Part IV..................... 52

Lie on the Roller to Relax Your Back, Part V....................... 54

Post Script............................................................................... 56

About the Author and the Feldenkrais Method®.................. 57

Glossary .................................................................................. 58

Relax Your Back With A Roller 1 How This Book Can Help You When Chicago’s Relax The Back® store asked me to write this book, I enthusiastically responded. Countless physical therapists and Practitioners of the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education, myself included, are using Styrofoam™ rollers as a therapeutic tool to speed the recovery of those with various back and leg conditions. This book was written to be used with a 6” diameter roller, 36” long. However, you can adapt a narrower roller to use for these lessons by wrapping it with foam rubber and/or a folded blanket. You’ll notice that from time to time I’ll refer to the exercises as lessons. This isn’t just an exercise book. Part of the therapy you’ll gain is important knowledge to apply to movement throughout your day. Nowhere through these pages are you encouraged to use the roller to force improvement. Instead, approach every exercise with a sense of exploration each and every time you use your roller. You’ll discover that being more gentle with yourself will exponentially fast-forward your return to comfort. People always ask, “How many times should I repeat each movement?” I answer, “As long as it’s interesting to you.” In other words, don’t exercise mindlessly - especially when your goal is to help your back be healthier and more comfortable.

Within these pages you will discover:

Your roller can assist you to position your body in ways that are more healthful for your spine - for your whole body.

You can use your roller for easy exercises to speed your recovery from back and leg pain.

These gentle exercises will restore flexibility you may have thought was gone forever.

Practicing all that you learn through this book can prevent future episodes of pain.

2 Read with Your Knees Supported by the Roller Slouching while you relax can challenge your back as much as slouching while sitting in your car or in front of the computer. If you round your back and let your 12-15 pound head hang forward for long periods of time, you’re asking for trouble. A roller can help prevent your sinking into a slouch. Think of how a hospital bed would accomplish this while supporting your back and your legs.

Your roller and a few pillows can help you duplicate a hospital bed, so that you will be relaxed and have your back supported. Step 1 Angle a firm couch cushion and/or several bed pillows so that you can be supported from the bottom of your hips to the back of your head.

Step 2 Use the roller as a support under your knees. (You can wrap a towel around the roller or place a pillow on top of the roller to act as a cushion under your knees.) Step 3 Place one or more pillows on your thighs to move your reading material closer to your eyes instead of bending your head forward to see the words.

Instead of bending through your spine, bend through your knee and hip joints.

Relax Your Back With A Roller 3 Sit with the Roller Supporting Your Lower Back Your back will ultimately be more comfortable if you don’t slouch, period! You can support your lower back with the roller while sitting on a couch. Simply: Step 1 Place the roller horizontally on your couch with a soft pillow wrapped around the side of the roller that will

be supporting your back. Step 2 Sit with the back of your pelvis making contact with the pillow-wrapped roller. Your pelvis is part of your skeleton and includes the base of your spine and your ilia (hip bones).

Step 3 Position your feet flat on the floor, spaced a comfortable distance apart. Step 4 Allow your knees to be as far apart as your feet, so that your feet can solidly support your knees. Step 5 With your fingertips move the roller to the top of your sacrum (the center back of your pelvis, actually the base of your spine) so that the roller can support the lumbar section of your spine (lower back, just above your sacrum).

You can use the roller to support your back while having a conversation at the end of your day, or while watching TV.

Sacrum

Relax Your Back With A Roller 57 About the Author and the Feldenkrais Method® Through the writing of books such as Relax Your Back With A Roller© and the award-winning Stop Sciatica Now©, Pamela Kihm’s goal is to help people understand healthful movement options. In her private practice as a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education Practitioner and exercise trainer for people with challenges, Pamela not only ameliorates symptoms of pain, she helps clients learn how they can move in ways that are more efficient, ways of moving that cause less wear and tear through their joints. Pamela’s books are based on the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education developed by Moshe Feldenkrais Dsc. Dr. Feldenkrais was a genius at understanding and teaching “skeletal engineering,” e.g. when your skeleton is well organized, your muscles don’t have to work as hard to keep you upright - as a result movement is more comfortable and, even more importantly, more effective. For information about other books by Pamela Kihm, visit www.painfreechoices.com For more information about the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education, contact the Feldenkrais Guild® of North America through www.feldenkraisguild.com or call 1-800-775-2118.

Exercises and Strategies to Eliminate Pain

Mitigate back and leg problems, and prevent future back and leg pain, with a Styrofoam™ roller by using techniques taught by Pamela Kihm, author of the award-winning book Stop Sciatica Now. Relax Your Back With A Roller isn’t just an exercise book! Part of the therapy you’ll gain is important knowledge to apply throughout your day. The twenty eight exercises contain keys to being active and comfortable. For thirty years Pamela Kihm has been motivating her clients to choose more healthful movement options. In 1977 she was one of the first advocates of low-impact aerobics, choreographing routines to help her students reach aerobic levels - without causing joint damage. Pamela’s background includes a degree in Behavioral Science, several certifications as an Aerobics in Motion instructor, and certification for Therapeutic Touch. She began her practice as a Feldenkrais Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education in 1991, earning Guild Certification upon completion of the four-year training. Pamela Kihm's goal, as a both a writer and movement trainer for those with physical challenges, is to help people learn how to move more efficiently with less wear and tear on their bodies. Pamela’s clients often discover how subtle modifications to regimens prescribed by doctors and physical therapists can make exercises even more effective and pain free. Many have said, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”

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