The Banana Stretch: A Back Mobility Demonstration

We've been investigating back pain products and gadgets, but sometimes the best solution is low tech. So whether you have neck pain or lower back pain or sciatica, the back pain whisperer is ready to give away his chiropractic secrets with three pain-reducing moves. Shh, don't tell anybody. You can do these at home. So Dr. Shoshani, this is like a magician giving away his secrets, isn't it? Well, chiropractic adjustments are looking for the root cause of the problem. So what we're looking for is we're looking for spinal misalignments that cause nerve irritation and muscular imbalances. And these subluxations interfere with our body's ability to heal, so by removing this interference, our body's able to heal properly. So I want to talk about some exercises that we could do today, specifically neck exercises. Are the other chiropractors gonna be mad you're sharing these secrets? No, because it's something I teach my patients every day. And what's interesting is there's actually been a study that came out that said chiropractic adjustments in these exercises are a great replacement for opioid medication. So it's from Dartmouth University, just came out. Anytime you can reduce opioids, I'm in. Okay, Regan's from a person. Regan says she's got neck pain. She hits it after she wakes up at night, in the morning after sleeping at night. So show us what pain sufferers in the neck should do. Well, we all could agree that we're probably looking down at our mobile devices too much, correct? Yeah. So I encourage America to take a minute and look up. So what we're gonna do here, I have a banana. So I'm gonna have you turn around, and I'm gonna have you interlock your fingers together, and squeeze your scapula, your shoulder blades together. Pretend that you're holding this banana between your shoulder blades, bring your arms back a little bit, and gently bring your head back into extension and relax your jaw. You're gonna hold this position for about 20 seconds and relax. You look like a banana like that, by the way. Is it called the banana because she looks like one? I just call it a banana stretch because I think it's funny and easy way to remember it, but your spine is almost shaped like the banana. So you're trying to get this scapular retraction. So let's try it. Bring your shoulder blades back together, and you're trying to pinch this banana in, and bring your head back into extension, and hold that for 20 seconds. What you're doing is you're getting the cervical curve, which is one of the most important structures in your spine. You're trying to encourage that cervical curve. I like that. What do you think, Regan? Yeah, I can feel it. And another thing is every 20 minutes, I want you to pick up your head from your mobile device and look straight ahead for at least something 20 feet away. We need to get away from looking down at our devices.