Hi and welcome to this week's stretch-of-the-week. This week we continue with muscles of the back with the quadratus lumborum originating at the iliac crest of the pelvis and reaching to the 12th rib and transverse processes L1-L5.  The quadratus lumborum is always involved in lower back pain which can lead to disk problems and misalignment of the lumbar vertebrae. It has fibres that run vertically and in two diagonals however this particular stretch utilises the vertical fibres primarily, which does make up the bulk of the muscle. To gain the most benefit out of this stretch I suggest you do a few hip abductor stretches first.

To do this stretch the stretcher is lying on their left side with their right leg hyperextended off the edge of a table. Make sure their hips remain stacked vertically on top of each other and reach their right hand over their head. The partner stands behind the stretcher and crosses their hands so their left hand is against the stretchers hip and their right hand is spread wide across the rib cage. The stretcher needs to then bring their hip and ribs towards each other, this may need to be broken into seperate movements before the stretcher can move them at the same time. Once they have the hang of it the stretcher should begin slowly and try to bring the top of their hip and their rib cage together as the partner provides matching resistance. The stretcher should then relax and inhale deeply. On the exhale the stretcher should try and push their foot towards the floor to deepen the stretch.

Always remember that while stretching may be recommended to aid recovery out of injury, you should always be very careful when stretching through rehabilitation.  Your soft tissues are likely to be more vulnerable to re-injury if you stretch too much or too hard during this time.  Always check with your Health Care Professional who is guiding you through your recovery to make sure it is appropriate to start stretching, and please - ALWAYS FOLLOW THE RULES FOR SAFE STRETCHING (blog #50).

Information obtained from McAtee, R. & Charland, J. (1993) Facilitated Stretching
Image from www.exrx.com