Low Back Pain Due to Parkinson’s Disease? Do This Chair Exercise Daily

I get a lot of requests for lower back exercises you can do in a chair. Today’s exercise is a must to keep your lower back healthy and mobile. If your pelvis and lumbar spine are moving correctly, your balance and posture will be better and your lower back will not be as tight, which means less pain.

Let’s get started! I call this seated Pilates or yoga exercise a lower-half or modified Cat/Cow. I’m mostly concerned with how the pelvis moves in relation to your spine. All you need is a straight-back chair and a ball (even the ball can be optional).

Check out this video to see how to do this chair exercise to treat lower back pain due to Parkinson’s:

• Sit in a straight-back chair that allows your knees to be bent at 90 degrees with your feet flat on the ground. (I’m in a folding chair because that is all we have in the gym, but it still works.)

• Sit tall with your ears in line with your shoulders and hips.
• Find your “sit” bones with your hands (they are under your bum where you sit). Your hamstrings are attached here.

• You should have even weight between your two sit bones and your pubic bone in front, like a triangle.
• To do the modified Cat with rounded low back, inhale deeply and on the exhale, scoop in your abdominals and rock your pelvis back behind your two sit bones without shifting your upper body.

• On the next inhale, rock in front of your sit bones to form the Cow part of the exercise.

• Now take the ball and place it behind your low back and use it as feedback. Do the Cat/Cow exercise several times to stretch out your low back, mobilize your pelvis, and remind your brain what proper posture feels like.

You can do this exercise throughout the day. Take many breaks from slouching to sit straight and work your lower back. Practice and tell me how your back feels!

💜 Coach Kimberly