Health tip-How's your back?

        When clients come to me and tell me they have lumbar problems or their back hurts for various reasons there is one exercise which can always help which strengthens the multifidus muscles-the deep very small/short muscles that attach to your spinal column.
         These very small muscles help to support the spine as they directly attach to it and are related to stability of your entire spine. These muscles are the very first thing to fire in generally every move you make. That said many times they are weak or fire slowly or when injury is present can fire improperly (I experienced this personally), even when we walk as our weight distribution changes with each leg these muscles are ahead of us firing to keep us balanced and stable.
          One of the simplest basic exercises to help wake these muscles up and keep them strong and in my opinion important to use before most exercise routines as well as in the morning when back pain is present is an opposite arm/leg exercise.
On all fours making sure your alignment is proper ie: each knee is under each hip and each hand is under each shoulder extend the right arm forward parallel to the floor and the left leg back parallel to the floor and hold for 1-3 seconds, keeping the stomach pulled in, the neck long and the limbs straight, then alternate sides. Your Multifidus are firing and doing what they do best to keep you stable and balanced.
          You may find one side is stronger/easier than the other...make note and continue the work! Once you feel the movement becomes easy you can experiment with a movement of the leg-raising it up and down with control keeping everything else stable then reverse sides.
As always you are only as old as your spine is young so keep it healthy!