Learn the Most Effective Somatics Exercise for Back Pain
Most back pain is caused by chronically tight muscles. As we age and build up learned muscular patterns, our back muscles get increasingly tight. Most of this muscular contraction is involuntary, so we can’t easily release it.
Chronically tight back muscles are sore and painful. They compress the spine, leading to bulging and herniated discs. Compressed vertebrae and discs can then impinge the sciatic nerve, causing the condition of sciatica.
The key to regaining voluntary control over chronically tight muscles is to use very slow, conscious movements that engage the nervous system in a relearning process.
Thomas Hanna developed a highly effective movement technique called pandiculation. Pandiculation releases subconsciously held muscular contraction and brings muscles back into voluntary control. Hanna incorporated the technique of pandiculation into his system of neuromuscular education called Clinical Somatic Education.
Learn more Clinical Somatics exercises for back pain!
Learn MoreThe Arch & Flatten, which is the exercise I demonstrate in the video above, is for most people the most effective Somatics exercise for back pain. It teaches you how to gently contract and very slowly, gently release your back muscles. The slower and more consciously you practice this movement, the more you will benefit. To learn how to get the most out of practicing Somatic exercises, click here.
Click here to start at the beginning and learn the basics of Clinical Somatic Education.
To better understand how Somatics is different from other methods of movement and pain relief, click here.
