Back exercise 1
This is the first McKenzie exercise for the lower back. Again, if you are a neck patient, you will find the McKenzie exercises for the neck.
An exercise session is a series of repetitions of one or more exercises. Until you can do one or more of the other McKenzie exercises without acute pain, each time you exercise you must begin with Exercise 1, followed by Exercise 2.
Lie facedown with your arms next to your body. Your arms should be straight but relaxed. Your head should be turned to one side. Stay in this position, then take a few deep breaths, and then relax completely for two or three minutes. You must make a conscious effort to remove all tension from the muscles in your lower back: without this complete relaxation, there is no chance of
eliminating any distortion that may be present in the joint.
Exercise 1 is used mainly in the treatment of acute back pain (back pain that has begun recently and is sharp, as opposed to chronic back pain, which has gone on for a long time and is rather a dull ache). In fact, Exercise 1 is one of the McKenzie Method’s first-aid exercises. This exercise should be done once at the beginning of each exercise session. Ordinarily, you should do this exercise once per session, but you may feel free to do it more often than that. The exercise sessions should be spread evenly six to eight times throughout the day. This means that you should repeat the sessions about every two hours. In addition, you should lie facedown whenever you are resting.
