Stretching and Yoga are two great ways to help you out. We have an article on stretching
here:
Just saying stretching and yoga are great without specifying types of yoga will not help you out and probably make it worse. I read the article and they are right on point about range of motion. What they recommend is definitely not what should be done for someone with joint or back issues. they are speaking for healthy people without any physical disabilities or injuries. Even then I don't agree with how they say to go about it. Other than that there's still some good information about the benefits of flexibility and range of motion. 30 seconds for each of the exercises they recommend will definitely not warm the body up. It is no where near enough for someone with an ailment like arthritis of the spine. A proper warm up of the muscles and joints especially for the spine should be 4-5 min per exercise.
Every day I do an hour of exercises specifically designed to loosen and increase the range of motion in my spine. I'm flexible enough to do the splits with my chest laying on the ground. I do everything I can to keep a great range of motion. I never hold a stretch and instead move into it and then directly come out of it. If I'm doing a exercise or stretch focusing on extension of the spine, I will then directly follow that by focusing on flexion to keep things balanced. Otherwise it can stress the joint to much and cause pain, stiffness and discomfort. There was only one exercise in that link that did anything for the spine and even then you should warm up the discs a little before going into side twists.
I start out sitting cross legged and holding my ankles. I then continually thrust the center of my spine back and forth while keeping my shoulders in the same location. So only the middle of the spine is moving. This will work the entire spinal column to the neck. this is done for around 4-5min. Then I sit cross legged and hold my knees while I do orbital circles with the center of my spine in one direction for 4-5 min and then switch direction for another 4-5 min. These should be taken very lightly at first until things start to break free and loosen up. May take a couple weeks to a month. If there is any discomfort, back off until you can do it with out. Then still sitting cross legged I hold my shoulders and twist back and fourth for another 4-5 min. Now I can sit with my legs spread and reach for one foot and then the other and never holding for 4 min. then I sit with my legs out in front of me and move back and forth reaching for my feet and then leaning back. It's a constant motion of going back and forth between flexion and extension. Now I can do neck rotations in one direction and then the other taking a breath in when the head is leaned towards the back. This is what I do just for the warm up before I even start my exercises and stretches. so 8 exercises at 30 seconds a piece isn't even close enough to do anything and I guarantee for someone with back problems it will only make it worse.
should be done for someone with joint or back issues. they are speaking for healthy people without any physical disabilities or injuries. Even then I don't agree with how they say to go about it. Other than that there's still some good information about the benefits of flexibility and range of motion. 30 seconds for each of the exercises they recommend will definitely not warm the body up. It is no where near enough for someone with an ailment like arthritis of the spine. A proper warm up of the muscles and joints especially for the spine should be 4-5 min per exercise.
Every day I do an hour of exercises specifically designed to loosen and increase the range of motion in my spine. I'm flexible enough to do the splits with my chest laying on the ground. I do everything I can to keep a great range of motion. I never hold a stretch and instead move into it and then directly come out of it. If I'm doing a exercise or stretch focusing on extension of the spine, I will then directly follow that by focusing on flexion to keep things balanced. Otherwise it can stress the joint to much and cause pain, stiffness and discomfort. There was only one exercise in that link that did anything for the spine and even then you should warm up the discs a little before going into side twists.
I start out sitting cross legged and holding my ankles. I then continually thrust the center of my spine back and forth while keeping my shoulders in the same location. So only the middle of the spine is moving. This will work the entire spinal column to the neck. this is done for around 4-5min. Then I sit cross legged and hold my knees while I do orbital circles with the center of my spine in one direction for 4-5 min and then switch direction for another 4-5 min. These should be taken very lightly at first until things start to break free and loosen up. May take a couple weeks to a month. If there is any discomfort, back off until you can do it with out. Then still sitting cross legged I hold my shoulders and twist back and fourth for another 4-5 min. Now I can sit with my legs spread and reach for one foot and then the other and never holding for 4 min. then I sit with my legs out in front of me and move back and forth reaching for my feet and then leaning back. It's a constant motion of going back and forth between flexion and extension. Now I can do neck rotations in one direction and then the other taking a breath in when the head is leaned towards the back. This is what I do just for the warm up before I even start my exercises and stretches. so 8 exercises at 30 seconds a piece isn't even close enough to do anything and I guarantee for someone with back problems it will only make it worse.
