Leg Exercise - Seated Hamstring Stretch 1

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and low back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a seated hamstring stretch. It is nice to perform if you are stuck in a sitting position for a long time, like a long car trip, or at the office. All you need is a chair, or a couch. What you are going to do is sit on the edge. You are going to extend the leg out in front of you that you want to stretch, sit up nice and tall, so that you are not slumping through your lower back. You want to be all the way up, nice neutral spine position, then — maintaining that position — you are going to slowly lean forward, until you feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. Hold that position for about thirty seconds to a minute and then you can back out of it. You want to make sure that when you are doing the stretch, you are not letting your knee bend. If you find that your knee does keep bending, you can use your hands to put gentle pressure above your knee cap on your thigh and help hold it in a straightened position. And that is your seated hamstring stretch.

Leg Exercise - Seated Hamstring Stretch 2

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and low back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a seated hamstring stretch, which you might perform if you have tight hamstrings, and this might be causing low back pain, knee pain. So what you're going to do is sit, you're going to extend the leg out in front of you that you want to stretch, the other leg can be bent, up. You want your foot pointing straight up towards the ceiling. You're going to sit up nice and tall. You want to make sure you're not slumping through your low back. Everything should be nice and upright. And keeping your spine in that nice, neutral position, you're going to slowly lean forward until you feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. You're going to hold that position for 30 seconds to a minute. And then you can slowly back out of it. And that's your hamstring stretch.

Leg Exercise - Supine Hamstring Stretch

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a supine hamstring stretch. It's a nice way to stretch the back of your thigh in a relaxed position where you're laying down. So what you want to do is lay down, preferably on a more solid surface. One leg can be straight out. The other leg that you're going to stretch, you're going to bend up and slowly straighten your knee all the way up towards the ceiling. You want to hold that stretch, feeling it along the back of your thigh and maybe in the back of your knee for 30 seconds to a minute. If you have any neural tension, your healthcare provider might prescribe ankle pumps which is just pumping your ankle up and down so your toes are moving towards your face and up towards the ceiling. And you're going to feel a pull in the back of your calf and behind your knee. The pulling should get less the more that you pump. If it gets more intense or painful, then stop performing the ankle pump. If you're not flexible enough to reach your own thigh, it's nice to use a strap. You can get one of these online or at any sporting goods stores , or just use a rope. This one's nice because it has handles [here it is from Amazon.com]. So you're going to hook it onto the bottom of your foot, lay down and now, you can slowly bring your leg up until you feel a nice stretch, again, in the back of your thigh here behind your knee. Hold that position 30 seconds to a minute, trying to keep your knee as straight as possible. And that's your supine hamstring stretch.

Hip Exercise - Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

Commonly Used For: Hip pain, knee pain and low back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a kneeling hip flexor stretch that's going to stretch the muscles across both your hip joint and your knee joint that flex the hip. You're going to be kneeling so it's nice to use some sort of padding just so you don't bother your knees. This is just a gardening pad. You can get it at any hardware store. [Here's one from Amazon.com.] So what you're going to do is you're going to have to kneel on the side that you're going to stretch. The other leg can be up out in front of you. You want to make sure that your legs are pointing straight forward. Then, you're going to come up to your pelvis. Make sure that it's nice and tucked under. You don't want to arch through your low back. Keep your glutes squeezed and your abdominals tight, maintaining this tucked position. You're slowly going to lunge forward until you feel a stretch across the front of your hip and down in the front of your thigh. You should not feel any low back pain. If you do, back out of the stretch. You might have been arching too much. You need to tuck under more, really, really squeeze those glutes. That should help. You might feel a stretch right here without lunging forward at all. If you do, you can just hold it right there. If you don't, slowly lunge forward again until you feel that stretch down your thigh. Again, with no low back pain. And then you want to hold the stretch 30 seconds to a minute. That's your kneeling hip flexor stretch.

Hip Exercise - Supine Piriformis Stretch

Commonly Used For: Knee pain, back pain, hip pain, and sciatic nerve dysfunction.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you a piriformis stretch which is a small stabilizing muscle in your hip here. It's commonly used to help treat sciatic nerve pain, hip pain, back pain, knee pain. It's a commonly tight muscle that causes problems. So what you're going to do is you're going to lay down. The side that you're stretching — in this case my right leg — is going to cross over your opposite side. You're going to put one hand on top of your knee. The other hand, over your ankle and then you're slowly going to pull towards your opposite shoulder until you feel a stretch right through your glutes here. You should not feel a pinch in the front of your thigh. If you do feel a pinch, you might need to stretch your hip flexors first [see: standing hip flexor stretch and kneeling hip flexor stretch]. If you get into this position and you don't feel a stretch, you can try raising up your opposite leg, grab behind your thigh and then, pull forward and that'll help give you a more intense stretch. You want to hold the stretch 30 seconds to a minute. And that's your piriformis stretch.

Leg Exercise - Dynamic Hamstring Stretch

Commonly Used For: Pre-activity stretch.

Video Transcription: This is a dynamic hamstring stretch, which somebody who is more athletic might use before they went for a run or did any sort of sporting activity. It's a way to stretch your hamstring while also bringing blood flow to the area. So the way you're going to do this is you want to stay up nice and tall, keeping a neutral spine, and then you're just going to kick your legs up, out, in front of you. You want to make sure as you kick that you're not slouching through your lower back. You want to stay up nice and tall. You can also walk while you do it, if you prefer. So you can kick, step, kick, step, and so on, and that's a dynamic hamstring stretch.

Leg Exercise - Standing Hamstring Stretch

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and low back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a standing hamstring stretch. This is a nice one to use when you're on the go. What you want to do is you're going to put the foot out in front of you that you're trying to stretch, keeping a nice, upright posture through your low back. You're slowly going to lean forward making sure that you hinge at your hips here, and not bending through your spine. So, hinging at the hips, slowly lean forward until you feel a nice stretch in the back of your thigh. Then you're going to hold that position 30 seconds to a minute. If you find that you're more flexible than that, and don't want to have to bend down as far, you can put your foot up on a solid surface like a chair, a curb, a car well, and that will start you off with a better stretch already. You want to stay up nice and tall again, and then just lean forward. This time you won't have to lean as far forward before you feel the stretch at the back of your thigh. Again, hold it 30 seconds to a minute. And that's your standing hamstring stretch.

Leg Exercise - Standing Quad Stretch

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and low back pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you a standing quad stretch which is the way to stretch the muscles in the front of your thigh here, tightness in this region commonly causes low back pain as well as knee pain. So the way that you want to do it is if you have difficulty balancing you can use a chair or countertop or something steady to hold on to because you're going to stand on one leg, grab your ankle keeping your knee pointing straight down towards the floor, your going to bring your leg up towards your bottom, just like that. You wanna make sure that you're not letting your leg come forward. It should stay even with your opposite leg that your standing on. If you don't feel a stretch getting into this position, try squeezing your glutes, and that will intensify the stretch. You should feel it right in the front of your thigh here, is where you should feel the pulling sensation. You going to hold that 30 seconds to a minute, and that's your quads stretch.

Leg Exercise - Three-Way Hamstring Stretch

Commonly Used For: Knee pain and back pain.

Video Transcription: This is a three-way hamstring stretch used to get different angles of the muscles, and the back of your thigh. So how your going to do this, is your going to put your foot straight out in front of you, either on the floor, or up on the chair, if you're more flexible; or any sort of elevated surface. You want to make sure you keep your spine nice and upright, as you lean forward you don't want to slouch through your low back; so stay nice and upright. You're going to lean forward, hold that position for 30 seconds, and at the end of 30 seconds your going to rotate outward, until you feel a stretch more in your inner thigh, again hold that for 30 seconds. So thats the second way. And then your going to rotate the other way to get the third direction, and this one you should feel more on the outside edge, again holding for 30 seconds, and then back out of the strech. So that's your three-way hamstring stretch.

Neck Exercise - Levator Stretch

Commonly Used For: Back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain and headaches.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a levator stretch, which is the muscle that attaches from your shoulder blade up into your neck, and can contribute to both back and shoulder pain as well as neck pain and headaches. What you're going to want to do is stabilize your shoulder blade down by either grabbing on to the bottom of a chair or sitting on your hand. I prefer to grab on to something if I can. You're going to tuck your chin back kind of giving yourself a double chin, turn your head towards your opposite shoulder, and look down towards your armpit. You should feel a stretch right along this back side of your neck. If you don't feel the stretch intensely enough, you can take your opposite hand, come over the back side of your head, and gently pull down. You want to hold that stretch 30 seconds to a minute. And that's your levator stretch.

Neck Exercise - Upper Trapezius Stretch

Commonly Used For: Shoulder pain, neck pain and headaches.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a stretch for your upper trapezius muscle, which is along here. it connects from your shoulder blade up into your neck here and is a common cause of shoulder pain, neck pain and headaches. So what you're going to do is if you're sitting, you can grab onto the bottom of the chair or if you can't reach that far, you can also sit on your hand. I prefer to hold on if I can though. You're going to tuck your chin back, kind of giving yourself a double chin there and then slowly tilt your ear towards your opposite shoulder, maintaining that chin tuck. You should feel a stretch right along the side of your neck here. This should be a gentle stretch. You don't want to pull it. This is a very sensitive area. Again, keeping that chin tucked. If you let it tilt outwards, you're not going to feel the stretch in the right position. So keep that chin nice and tucked. Hold it for 30 seconds to a minute and that's your upper trapezius stretch.

Chest Stretch - Foam Roll Pec Stretch

Commonly Used For: Shoulder pain and neck pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to stretch out the front of your chest — your pecs — using a foam roller. This you can get online [here's one at Amazon.com] or at most sporting goods stores. So what you're going to do is you're going to lay the foam roller down. You want to sit on the very end of it and walk yourself back, making sure that your head is still supported on the foam roller. You're going to take your arms and bring them out to the side like this, until you feel a stretch across the front of your chest. You should not feel any numbness or tingling in your hands. If you do, the stretch might be too intense for you and you can prop your arms up on a pillow or a cushion - anything that'll make it so that your arms don't drop down quite so far. And again, you should feel the stretch right across your chest. If this stretch is not intense enough for you, you can bring one arm in and focus on just stretching one side. Roll slightly away from the side that you're stretching and you'll feel a more intense stretch across the one side that you're stretching and then you can repeat on the other side.

Hip Exercise - Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

Commonly Used For: Low back pain or hip pain.

Video Transcription: This is a standing hip flexor stretch. It's going to stretch primarily the short hip flexors that only cross the hip joint here. It's primarily used with people that have low back pain or knee pain. So the first thing that you're going to want to do is get into a stride stance, which is one foot in front of the other, about hip distance apart. You want to make sure your feet are pointed straight forward. They're not turning outward or inward at all. And you want to come up to your pelvis, and make sure you're not arching through your low back. So you want to tuck all the way under by tightening your glutes and your lower abdominals. Once you're in that nice tucked position, you want to keep your back leg straight -- this is the leg that you're stretching -- and you're slowly going to lunge forward until you feel a stretch across the front of your hip joint here. You should not feel any low back pain. If you do, back out of the stretch, and try tucking again. Maybe you didn't tuck under enough. So tuck ALL the way under, you might feel a stretch already, even without lunging -- and if you do, just hold here. If you don't, then you can try again to slowly lunge forward. Then hold that position for 30 seconds to 1 minute. And that's your standing hip flexor stretch.