Welcome to another session of our Move With Us series. This week we will be working through some hip and spinal mobility. These exercises are great for anyone as they focus on general mobility through our back and pelvis, areas that are under constant load throughout our day to day lives. If you’re having back pain, lower back soreness, hip stiffness or tension through your upper back then give these exercises a go and see how you feel!

Childs Pose

• Sitting on your knees, separate your knees so that you can bend forward and reach both hands on the mat in front of you

• From here walk both hands around to the right side, place your left hand on top of your right hand and push your left hip down towards your left heel

• Relax your head down and hold the stretch, feeling it along the side of the body and hold for 3-5 seconds

• Walk your hands through centre and around to the left side

• Place your right hand on top of your left hand and push your right hip down towards your right heel and hold

• Return to centre as repeat as necessary

Hip Openers

• Our aim is to open up through our hips and stretch through the hip flexors and into the groin

• In the same starting position as Child’s Pose, bring both hands in front of you on to the mat

• Bring your shoulders over your wrists and bring your hips forward

• Gently bring your hips back towards your heels

• Work slowly through the movements, bringing your hips forward and then slowly leaning back

• Repeat 4 times or more if you wish

Cat Cow Stretch

• This exercise is great to increase mobility through the whole length of your spine

• Come into a four point kneeling position, wrists underneath your shoulders and knees underneath your hips

• From here, tuck your chin down towards your chest and curl through your spine tucking your pelvis underneath while pushing your hands into the mat

• Start to roll through to extension, sticking your bottom out and pushing your chest up making sure your head is the last to move

• Keep moving through the entire movement, working through each part of your spine for 4 times or more if desired

Thread The Needle

• Our aim is to further increase spinal mobility and also work into rotation of the upper back

• Starting in your four point kneel position, lift your right arm and reach it up to the ceiling rotating your body to the right

• Coming back down, thread your right arm through your left wrist and knee

• Place your head down on the mat and breathe

• Work through the rotation 4 times and then swap sides

We hope you found this helpful! Feel free to repeat this series multiple times through out the day and keep Moving With Us. If you have any questions or need any advice on any of these exercises, please don't hesitate to reach out and chat to us.

Remember that you shouldn’t feel pain during any of these exercises. If they are painful for you, consider avoiding that exercise or decreasing the intensity. We are always here to help if needed.

If you’re after some more advice or are in need of some hands on help, we’d love to see you at Collective Motion! Collective Motion offers Osteopathy and Pilates and is conveniently located to service our Bentleigh community as well as its surrounding suburbs including Bentleigh East, McKinnon, Ormond, Glenhuntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Oakleigh, Gardenvale, Brighton East and Hampton East. Click below to book an appointment and let us help you get moving again.