Cat Curl Stretch
Part 3 of 10
I am sure you can see from the picture why this is called the cat curl. (Our feline friends are very good at their stretching). This stretch works directly on all the small muscles that run along both sides of our spines. These are the muscles that are put under a lot of pressure by the other larger muscles; whether indirectly like the hamstrings (rear of the thighs) or directly like the hip flexors (front of the upper thighs). These small muscles get very tight trying to protect your spine from being pulled out of line by the larger muscles. Back ache can often be caused by these getting tired from all the work they are having to do. This stretch is a very good way to release these small muscles (erector spinae muscles). They react the same way as all muscle when put under constant stress: they tighten up and shorten. In this state they can no longer do their job properly and due to their location they put a lot of pressure on all the vertebrae. The solution is to try and avoid sitting for long periods and keep good movement in the spine by doing the following stretch at least twice a day. In case you haven’t read the previous posts then please read the following general stretching advice:
1. Pain should never be part of stretching.
2. Use a scale of 1-10; 1 being nothing and 10 being agony. You need to stretch to a 6 or 7. This should feel as if it is pulling right in the middle of the muscle and nowhere near your bones. It should feel like a strong pull and not painful or sharp.
3. When taking your body into any stretch, once you have done it, just hold it there. Do not force it any further and definitely don’t bounce ( By “bounce” I mean short regular movements trying to force your muscle to stretch further than it wants to. You can damage the muscle by doing this.).
4. Breathe! Your muscles won’t be able to relax properly if you are holding your breath. Use nice deep yoga-style breathing, take in a lung-full and let the air out nice and slowly right to the end.
5. It is better to get the technique correct than concerning yourself about how far you stretch. Bad technique could result in you receiving no benefits from the stretching or worse still an injury. And that is the kind of irony we don’t like.
6. Try and do stretches first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The more you can do the better, but morning and evening is fine as a minimum.
Stretch 3
For this stretch all you will need is yourself, maybe a full length mirror to check your technique and a stretch mat or carpet to protect your knees. Start this stretch on all fours on the floor. Make sure that you start in a comfortable position. All movements must be carried out slowly and carefully, as with all stretches. Slowly arch your back down, sticking your pelvis out and tilting your head back. Remember to take it to a comfortable stretch. The stretch should be felt on the stomach muscles or/and the spine muscles themselves. If you are not feeling the stretch then don’t worry it just means that you are supple in this area. However, this does not mean you can ignore this stretch as it is an important movement for the spine. Now we need you to move slowly into the next position as shown in the picture. To do this you need to arch your back up whilst simultaneously lowering your chin to your chest and tilting your pelvis in. The overall aim is to elongate your spine as much as possible. Here you should feel a stretch somewhere along the spine, wherever it is tight. If you don’t feel a stretch this is due to one of two reasons: firstly that your spine is actually quite flexible or secondly you are not arching enough. Imagine a rope going from the centre of your back to the ceiling and pulling up. Make sure your chin is on your chest and you are tilting your pelvis in towards the direction of your arms. This stretch should be done very slowly and at each extreme you need to hold the stretch for 10 seconds and repeat until you have completed a total of 10 repetitions 5 up and 5 down.
Be Careful:
If during this stretch you feel anything like a sharp pain stop immediately and consult your doctor. In this stretch you should feel no sharp pain merely a pull, if anything at all. A sharp pain and/or radiating pain to other parts of your body can indicate that a nerve is becoming involved. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but is more likely to be an underlying problem that you must consult your doctor about.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:09 am
[...] Now I know I have said in previous posts how exercise can shorten the muscles and how these muscles need to be stretched so that the pelvis can re-align. However in this case because you will be doing it in combination with the “Cat Curl Stretch” (which stretches these muscles) it will be okay. As you will be stretching the muscles they will be relaxed and in a new position which will reduce the strain in the lower back. However as they are not normally used to being longer they are weak, very weak, in this position. Not only that but they will have lost function so they won’t be able to react as quickly to the outside stresses put on them. So exercising them primarily for strength is very important. The exercise I am recommending for this is an “old school” exercise that has been dismissed by some trainers just because it is dated – for no other reason. I say, though, that it works and if it works we should do it! [...]