10 exercises for spinal health on the road

Every day, morning and evening, a lot of people rush from home to work and back, spending a lot of time on it. So, Muscovites every day "kill" three hours in transport, Japanese — four, the Germans get by with an hour and a half, and only the Americans manage to spend no more than one hour on their movements. But all this time you can use to improve your health, and above all — of the spine, assures the neurosurgeon, Ph.D. health right on the road.  The Secret of the Great Samson: How Isometric Gymnastics Made Our Circus Famous

— Igor Anatolyevich, why is it dangerous to stay in one position for a long time during a trip?

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Transport saves us a lot of time, but it also takes health. The seat of an armchair of a car, an airplane or a commuter train makes you sit for several hours in a form that is unnatural for the spine. As a result, the cervical and lumbar sections are bent, and the back becomes a wheel at all.

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But in such situations, the opportunity to stand up and straighten your shoulders is excluded…

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Yes, but you can use isometric gymnastics, the exercises of which allow you to stabilize the position of not only the spine, but also all joints without taking your priests off the chair.

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How is isometric gymnastics different from the usual?

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It allows you to keep your body fit even with the sedentary lifestyle that most of us lead today. Isometric gymnastics has one more feature — muscle tension is achieved without movement of body parts, which prevents wear of the articular cartilage and arthrosis. In order to better understand the merits of this gymnastics, one should recall its founder, the famous Russian strongman Alexander Zass, whom his contemporaries called nothing more than the Great Samson. He bent metal rods, tied nails with bows, lifted horses onto his shoulders… Although from  birth was not a hero. The Russian circus performer was able to achieve all this thanks to isometrics, which strengthens the tendons.

Benefits of Isometric Gymnastics:

does not require much time and special equipment;

• is available to everyone;
does not cause fatigue;
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  strength development is achieved through tension;
• burns fat, not muscle mass;
• less traumatic than dynamic gymnastics.
Flight is normal: unload the spine and move with the buttocks

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Prisoners of the armchair are those who take long flights…

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Yes, after three or four hours of sitting still, the pelvis and buttockss become so immobilized that they lose sensation. This is not only unpleasant, but also harmful: a violation of blood circulation in the nerve is highly undesirable. Another nuisance can be the load on the coccyx, which can provoke pain in it, especially if it was previously injured. "Steps with the buttocks" will help to avoid this. 

Exercise "Steps with the buttocks". Using only the buttocks, move the body from the back of the seat to the very edge of it and back.

This will unload the coccyx, give a certain load on the hip joints, so that further travel will no longer be burdensome.
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— However, another problem for air passengers is the inability to sit upright…

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Alas, even a roll of a rug placed under the waist does not save. As a result, at the end of the flight or upon receipt of luggage, a person may feel in the back & nbsp; severe pain, or even completely provoke the appearance of herniated discs in this position. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to perform the “Heel” exercise, and not just once, but throughout the entire flight. It is very light. It is enough to tear off the heel from the floor. The trick is that, sitting, we stoop. But one has only to tear off the heel from the floor, as the body immediately straightens to maintain balance.

Exercise "Heel". Tighten your abs and sharply, one by one, lift your heels off the floor and lower them again. Run 1 min.

 

 

— A common complaint among air passengers is the inability to put  comfortable head, especially when sleepy…

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This can have a detrimental effect on the state of the cervical vertebrae and discs, which have to hold the head in such an unnatural position. Therefore, charging for the cervical region is necessary. Put your hands on the back of your head, then — on your forehead, then — on the sides of your head and, resisting them, strain the muscles of neck. It is also good to do the exercise "Squeeze out the neck muscles." It will cope with lymphatic and venous congestion in the tissues of the neck and head.

Exercise "Squeeze out the neck muscles". Put your palms behind your head. Slightly rocking it back and forth, at the same time slide your palms down your neck. Repeat three to five times. This exercise gives lightness in the neck.

Driver, hit the brakes: why you have to stop every three hours

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Perhaps the risk group is those who have to drive all day…

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Yes, the list of occupational diseases of drivers includes osteochondrosis,sciatica, hemorrhoids, prostatitis. And all of them are caused by the need to sit for a long time  no movement. Ideally, those who have to drive for a long time should make stops every three hours and  use them for outdoor activities. But even the time it takes to get stuck in traffic can be used to do exercises like the Neck Stretch.

Exercise "Neck Stretching". Under the angles of the lower jaw, put large parts of the hands, the rest

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• on the back of the head. Trying to make minimal head tilts at the same time with your hands to pull your head up, along the spine. This will relax the tissues and help align the vertebrae with each other.
Hands must not be left unattended. Gymnastics for the hands will benefit the whole body, because they have a huge accumulation of biologically active points and zones. It is no coincidence that in Chinese acupuncture, the hand is regarded as the main instrument of health. However, one should not go into the complex philosophy of the East. It is enough to memorize the exercise "Oriental greeting", especially since it is not difficult to do. Remember that in Asia it is customary to fold your palms in front of you at chest level to greet. Do the same.

 

Exercise "Oriental greeting". Press palms together for 30 seconds. This will create resistance and help the chest muscles tighten up.

Besides this, there are a number of useful habits that do not require special skills. For example, getting out of the car, you should slightly rise on tiptoe. This will allow the spine to stretch into a thread and release the accumulated fatigue. Agree that this is not at all difficult to do, but the benefits of this will be enormous.