Well, gyms, as you know, are off-limits right now due to social distancing. So a lot of us are doing what maybe you’re doing right now: you’re sitting on the sofa, you’re staying in bed for much of the day. That can take a major toll on your spine and lead to serious neck and back pain. Joining us via Skype is Dr. Hooman Melamed, a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon. Good morning to you. You say, doc, guys, that it’s more important that we find ways to keep moving.
That’s right, very, very important. Not just the moving part, but also that helps to get rid of the anxiety and the stress. Remember, you got to optimize your immune system. The key is optimizing your immune system. So if you start, you know, getting rid of the anxiety and distress by doing some exercises at home, that’s the way to do it.
Like, for example, like start warming up. Warming up, you can do some treadmill if you have treadmill, or simple walk basically outside, but remember, maintain your distance, at least six feet from anybody else, by walking and doing some… basically, if you have a stationary bike, that’s a great way to get the heart rate to warm up a little bit, basically to get going. And then, you know, jumping after that into other exercises, for example doing some stretching. Stretching, anybody can do stretching. You don’t need anything at home to do stretching.
And if you are a little bit want to get the heart rate up, which I highly recommended, if you can go for running. Jump rope, simple jump rope, what we used to do when we were kids. A stationary bike, like going very fast on it, you get the heart rate up. And there’s a lot of great exercises on YouTube which you can do to get your heart rate up. They’re fantastic exercises. So abdominal crunches, squatting basically for strengthening, push-ups.
And if you have bands at home, which a lot of people do, a lot of band exercises basically to help to, you know, get your body weight, using your body weight to get everything working, working on different muscle groups. Plyometrics, using BOSU balls, anything you can find. There’s a lot of creative stuff you can do, and there’s a lot of great stuff on YouTube you can use to do it safely. And make sure you always stay safe.
What thing that you talk about is, is flexibility, and, and, and that can improve a lot of our aches and pains. What are some of the do’s and don’ts when it comes to flexibility?
Most important is form. I always tell people, look, it’s better to do something when you’re exercise specifically in the right form, if you can do it five times, rather than doing 20 times the wrong way. So the form is the most important thing for any exercise. And then, you know, yoga. Yoga is fantastic, and also Pilates. Those are fantastic ways of building up your flexibility, but make sure your form is perfect.
Okay. And also, doctor, cooling down. So when you do a workout and you get your heartbeat going, it’s really important to have that cool-down moment.
Yes. So stretching. A lot of people do stretching before, but it’s very, very paramount to do stretching afterwards to cool down the muscles. Also using a foam roller. Foam roller is another fantastic way of cooling down the muscles after the exercises. That helps to get all the lactic acid out, and basically deep tissue massage using your own body weight of foam rolling I found to be another fantastic one for that.
So the foam rolling, I [inaudible] the impression that you do that, you know, a day later. So you’re saying get to it right after the, the exercise?
I usually do that right after the exercise. It’s fantastic because it, it prevents [inaudible] you get the next day. It’s very good about getting, getting all the, as I said, the lactic acid, everything out of it.
Okay, doctor, thank you so much. Dr. Hooman Melamed, thank you very much. Stay safe, guys.
You too.
Board-certified spine surgeon. For more information about back pain topics, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
