Back Extensions are a fantastic way to help prevent back pain and injury. Not to be confused with the superman exercise which can place too much pressure on your spine and cause injury. Back extensions are an excellent and safe way to increase mobility and improve nutrition to the disc and joints of the lumbar spine. The best part of back extensions is that you don’t need a gym, but can perform them in the comfort of your own home.
Back extensions have proven to be very effective at helping with lower back pain treatment especially when you start to experience an initial onset back pain. Back extensions or hyperextensions specifically target tissues of the spine including the discs, which are responsible for supporting the spine.
Benefits of Back Extensions
Back extensions provide many important benefits the most important being that it can help to prevent back injury. A few more benefits include:
- Improved nutrition to the tissues of the spine
- Improved Posture
- Increased Stamina
- Injury Prevention
- Increased Flexibility and Movement
How to Do Back Extensions at Home
Back extensions should be performed on a regular basis, however, if you are experiencing back discomfort or pain the best time to perform the back extensions is preferably after you have iced your lower back. Follow the steps below to perform back extensions
- Find a flat surface such as a bed and lay on your stomach
- Place your elbows in line with your shoulders and forearms parallel with your body
- Slowly lift yourself up on your forearms while keeping the rest of your body on the flat surface (you should feel a little stretch in your low back but don’t extend to where you feel discomfort)
- Hold at the top for 10 seconds then lower yourself down and repeat for 5 repetitions
- If you aren’t feeling pain or too much strain then you can move from using your forearms to your hands to get an extra extension
- If you feel any worsening of the pain while performing these you should discontinue immediately and seek further evaluation by a movement specialist.
Still unsure of how to perform the back extension? Check out the video below where Dr. Raz director of physical therapy at The Center for Total Back Care shows how to perform this exercise with various degrees of difficulty.