Exercise balls have been popular in this decade because of growing awareness about exercise and fitness. Majority of gymnasiums keep exercise ball as mandatory equipment for exercise and training. This fitness ball is very beneficial for number of reasons. It also helps to main shape and healthy structure of your spine which reduces chances of back pain. There are many exercises that can be performed with the help of fitness ball but only some of them are beneficial for spine. Today we will look at some spine exercises that can be done using an exercise ball.
Spine Health and Swiss Ball
Swiss ball or exercise ball is efficient to support your spine. This is because the ball is designed to provide easy movement of the spine and disc in the spine. It helps to increase the blood flow around the disc and aids in water flow in the spine as well. Spine exercises are very rare and most of the intense exercises and workouts actually put a lot of pressure on the spine. By doing few exercises with the fitness ball you can bring down the risk of having back injuries and spinal cord injuries. This can further help you sustain your body for longer period.
4 Spine Exercises with Swiss Ball
1. Pelvic Isolation
This is a category of exercise that focuses on spine by moving on your pelvic gland. This exercise is very beneficial for your vertebras present in the lower spinal cord and disc. It can be divided into 3 exercises depending on the movement of the exercise.
Back and forth rocking
- In this exercise sit on the exercise ball and keep your arms on your hips.
- Not slowly pull your pelvic muscle forward; this will tighten your stomach muscles
- Then gradually move backwards targeting on your back
- Create a small arc with your back in the movement on exercise ball
- When you return to comfortable position, start doing it again slightly fast
- Repeat it for 10 times.
Side to side rocking
In this exercise you need to sit in similar position. The only change would be in the movement of the exercise ball. In side to side rocking, you need to move yourself on either side of the body and then return to initial position.
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2. Spine Rotation
Spine rotation of exercise ball helps to improve your middle spinal cord area by stretching it on both the sides with help on an exercise ball. It will help you keep your spine straight and prevent problems that usually occur to older people in their back.
- For this exercise you need to sit on the exercise ball
- Keep your arms straight in the front
- Now without bending or twisting your spine, move both your arms to the left.
- Keep your shoulder and back straight
- Bend you left elbow to complete the movement
- As you feel stretch over your back return to the original position
- Now do this same thing on the other side as well.
- While turning right move your head towards left, and vice-versa.
- Repeat this exercise 5 times on each side.
3. Mobility spine exercise
Swiss ball makes movement and flexibility exercises more interesting. Mobility exercises means when the exercise is done along with a motion to affect that particular area. In this type of exercise, the movement of body along with the ball relaxes the spine and stretches it in such a way that it relaxes all the vertebras present inside the spinal cord.
For this exercise-
- You first need to sit on the Swiss ball with your arms beside your body
- Now slowly start rolling your body outwards by using your feet to move
- Slide with the ball on your back and you will feel each vertebra section getting relaxed.
- Now slide back to original position and return to sitting posture
- This will stretch your spine and relax your back muscles
- Repeat this exercise for 5 times.
It also has variations where you can use your hands over the exercise ball out from the body and keep the back flat until hips and knees are perpendicular to each other. The other is through kneeling on the exercise ball and rolling it back and forth with straight knee at chest level to stretch the spine.
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4. Bridge Exercise
We know about bridge exercise where you make a curve by rolling your spine backwards. In this exercise with Swiss ball, you need to do the same but with some extra support. Bridge on exercise ball can help your get rid of back pain and back problems very effectively. It can also improve your spine condition and give you better support and relaxation to muscles.
- To do this exercise first lay flat on the exercise ball with legs straight.
- Not take your hands behind your head in bridge posture
- Pull your legs till the exercise ball to make an arch
- Now put pressure on your hands and toes to lift your back in such a way that it forms a curve.
- Hold that position above the exercise ball
- Now release pressure and let your spine relax on the Swiss ball and return to initial position.
- You can also increase the difficulty level my putting one leg up by some inches and so on.
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