How a blanket can aid to release tension your lower back

A blanket can come in handy for many things, e. g. to help you release your lower back. Maybe this wasn’t the first thing which came to your mind ;o).

Today’s exercise is about rotation:

• Rotation of the spine
• and lateral/medial rotation of your femurs.

And these 2 things alone can bring some wonderful relieve if you have lower back issues. Add a rolled up blanket to put under your pelvis and you can obtain another effect because you give the area some proprioceptive input.

We will also include some arm movement to connect the arms into the torso and create a sense of length at the back and front of the torso.

What is the exercise about?

• Release tension in your lower back.
• You also mobilise your hip joints and spine

What do I like about it?

• It is a gentle exercise where you use the blanket instead of the foam roller.
• The blanket is much softer than the foam roller which allows your myofascial structures to relax more easily.
• The blanket isn’t as high as a foam roller which makes it easier to “ground” your ribbasket.
• You can focus on the movement in your hip joint for mobility or allow the pelvis to roll along to get more a sense of lengthening in your abdominal area or maybe the quads..
• You have a proprioceptive aspect because you lie on a blanket. This stimulates the communication between the brain and body and there is therefore more clarity about where the movement happens.
• You have the release aspect because you are stimulating your thoraco-lumbar fascia.
• By adding the arms we turn this gentle exercise into a full body exercise where we connect the arms into the torso – we may feel the connect both at the front of the torso and the back.

What prop do you need?

A soft rolled up blanket.

Where to place the prop

Under your pelvis.

Which course/workshop is the exercise from?

• A Corona-friendly Friday bar in a pilates studio where we focused on slowing down and finding inner-cosiness. This means that all exercises were done using a blanket.

I offer short workshops for your clients in your pilates studio which I can tailor to your and your clients’ needs.

And here is the video …

Video length: 4:13 minutes