What type of exercises can seniors or elderly people do with a chair to help reduce back pain?
Answers
Here is a proper exercise for back pain that you can do seated in a chair. It is a modified Cat-Cow. The Cat-Cow is when you’re on all fours, and you’re making movements that make you look like a cat or cow. The good thing is that you can do it in a chair. To go into the cat, you need to tuck your chin in and kind of arch back towards the backrest and push your pelvis back to go into the arch. After that, go into the cow; come up, bring everything forward and then bring your head back. Do that five times each.
Seated exercises effectively reduce back pain, strengthen muscles, and boost the heart rate.
Tummy Twists
This is a well-rounded exercise for the core and can assist in stretching the spine and reducing back pain. Doing a gentle twist a few times every day helps enhance spinal flexibility and reduce lower back pain. Start with your feet planted on the floor and knees at a 90-degree angle, then edge just a little forward on the seat. Press down into your seat and lift your arms overhead as you inhale.
As you exhale, turn slowly to your right, placing your left hand outside of your right knee. As you exhale, twist slightly deeper.
Seated gentle backbend
Our upper and midbacks start to curve forward even more as we age. It can become our normal posture and cause tension in our back muscles. A gentle backbend can counteract that tension.
Starting seated, put your feet flat on the floor and bring your hands to your lower back, with your fingers facing down. Then press your hands into your hips and inhale.
As you exhale, gently arch your spine. Slowly come back to the neutral starting position after 5 seconds, and repeat 3 to 5 times.
Simply trying and focusing to get out of a chair without using your arms is a fundamental exercise that becomes increasingly important as we age. If it is too easy, walking for 5-10 minutes is more beneficial than sitting in a chair. I do not recommend chair workouts to my senior patients.
Seated Backbend Arch
1. Sit on the edge of a chair.
2. Face your fingers away from your hips as you keep your hands behind you.
3. Raise your lower back by supporting yourself on your fingertips and pulling your sacrum in and up.
4. Open your chest and shoulder blades as you follow the backbend.
5. Count to eight or ten before releasing.
Seated Cat/Cow
1. Place your feet balanced on the ground and sit at the edge of the chair.
2. As you inhale, place your hands on your knees and stick your hips out behind you.
3. While opening your chest and raising your gaze, gently squeeze your shoulder blades together.
4. While exhaling, scoop in your belly, and curl your tailbone under as you drop your head toward your sternum.
5. Perform this sequence ten times.
Seated Lower-Back Circles
1. Put your feet on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and place your hands on your knees.
2. Start from the spinal column base, inhale and circle the torso clockwise. Do eight to ten rotations.
3. Take a brief break, reverse the motion, and complete eight to ten courses in the opposite direction.
4. Do this alternately for two to three minutes.
Seated Roll-Downs
1. Hold your hands hanging at your sides as you sit with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Begin by rounding down the spine from the head.
3. Exhale, bringing your forehead forward, and letting the weight of your head pull you along until the top of your head is at your thighs.
4. As you round up to sit, slowly inhale and stack your vertebrae.
5. Feel the articulation as you round up and draw the belly button to the spine to protect the back.
6. Do this for five to eight cycles.
Simply trying and focusing to get out of a chair without using your arms is a fundamental exercise that becomes increasingly important as we age. If it is too easy, walking for 5-10 minutes is more beneficial than sitting in a chair. I do not recommend chair workouts to my senior patients.
