Eclipse Wellness

Eclipse Wellness Physical Therapy and Nutrition experts helping you reach your goals with one-on-one care

04/22/2026

As a physical therapist, here are 4 movements I use if I have low back pain with bending backwards.

First of all, I would only do these movements if my pain was a 5/10 or less. Anything more than a 5 warrants seeing a professional, and I typically have my clients avoid movements that cause that much pain so their bodies can heal.

Start out with some gentle stretching of the entire spine. Often, you have pain with extension because you are flexed all day in sitting. This is not damaging your back (see my post yesterday and YouTube video on the subject), but it can make it tight. Spending some time on your stomach can decrease stiffness rapidly.

If you have low back pain with extension, it is important to stretch the areas above and below your low back. The hips and thoracic spine can get tight and limit extension mobility. Make these stretches a habit and it will take pressure off of the low back.

Save these for the next time your back is hurting with extension!

04/20/2026

Here are some of my favorite exercises if you are dealing with back pain when you are bending forward.

I would use these if my back pain was a 5/10 or less. In my experience, people with mild to moderate pain benefit from a gradual load in the painful direction.

Starting out in unloaded positions like lying down or on your hands and knees is an easy way to introduce these movements in a non-threatening way. Focus on deep breathing and maximizing your low back mobility before gradually adding more load.

If you are dealing with 6/10 pain or more, you might benefit from avoiding bending for the time being to allow your body to heal. That might mean avoiding prolonged sitting or sleeping on your side.

I posted a YouTube video and wrote a blog about back pain with bending forward and whether sitting actually causes back pain. I take you through my rationale and some exercises and lifestyle strategies to implement if you are dealing with back pain!

04/20/2026

There is no such thing as a bad exercise for anyone, let alone baseball pitchers.

It is a hot topic on social media to bash certain exercises as unsafe for pitchers. That is at best lazy and at worst harmful to baseball players who might be seeing those posts. For better or worse, posts on social media carry more weight than they should. Some guy in his garage with 1,000 followers can look very convincing with the right lighting and a compelling caption.

The truth is: social media is meant to elicit strong reactions. Telling someone to never do an exercise will get you more views than saying context matters. No one wants to hear that some exercises are good for some people, while other people probably shouldn’t be doing those exercises. That isn’t compelling.

I try to hold myself to a higher standard because it is the right thing to do. I don’t get a lot of clients through social media. If you are reading this in Ohio, then we will probably never meet in person. I highly doubt you will come to Sterling, Virginia to work with me for physical therapy. I put out information for general education. It upsets me when I see real or imagined experts using fear tactics to motivate, gain followers, or get people to pay them money. There is enough confusion in the world of baseball as it is. We need to get rid of the clickbait nonsense.

Sorry I got distracted while writing this. Pitchers should be able to overhead press behind their heads. If you can’t do this, you probably can’t comfortably get into layback and throw a pitch. This exercise can show limitations and diagnose issues. Some people benefit from adding it to their workout, others don’t. Honestly it depends. Would you expect me to say anything else?

04/18/2026

Baseball players - if you are losing power at the plate, it might be due to your shoulder mobility.

We often focus on the hip side of hip-shoulder separation. However, you need adequate shoulder mobility to maintain tension when you swing. Try this test to see if your back shoulder mobility is limiting your hitting power!

If your back shoulder is tight, try some pecs or biceps stretching to loosen it up. This will help keep that hip-shoulder separation and improve your power at the plate!

04/08/2026

Baseball players - try these 2 exercises if you are dealing with low back pain!

Low back pain often results from compensation due to decreased mobility in surrounding areas. The hips are a common area to experience tightness. Extension and rotation are two important movements with swinging and throwing, and we want to prepare our body to handle the load.

You may have seen these exercises before, but make sure that you are doing them correctly to isolate your hips and get the biggest benefit. Try these as a warm up and after practice or games to promote increased mobility and decreased low back pain.

04/02/2026

Here is how I have my spondylolisthesis and other back pain patients squat if they have pain with back squats.

Raising your heels and having a box behind you are great tweaks, but sometimes the issue is the position of the load. Your body is a series of levers. Having weight behind your center of mass causes you to shift weight to the front of your feet. Your body then compensates by extending your low back to push your hips backwards and counter the weight on the front of your feet.

Putting the weight in front of your center of mass allows you to keep your weight evenly distributed in your feet and avoid the low back extension. This decreases the stress on your low back.

You can utilize front squats while you are recovering and transition back to back squats as your body allows. You can also keep front squatting because as long as you are not lifting in competitions, it doesn’t matter how you squat. Front squats can help target the quads and provide a different stimulus to incorporate in your regular workout routine.

Try this simple suggestion if you are dealing with low back pain, particularly with squatting!

04/01/2026

Here are some simple exercises that I use with clients recovering from a spondylolisthesis.

Extension of the low back is often painful in these clients, so I want to maximize the extension in the segments above and below the lumbar spine. That means progressing thoracic and hip extension.

These exercises accomplish those goals with minimal lumbar stress. Your physical therapy should include interventions targeting the surrounding areas as they can help speed up healing and decrease pain!

03/31/2026

Try these exercises if you are early in the rehab process with back pain.

A spondylolisthesis typically results in more pain with extension and rotation. To start preparing for rotation, we want to load the rotational muscles isometrically. That’s where these exercises come into play.

They are a great way to load the muscles early in rehab, but they can also bridge the gap if you are having trouble getting back to full rotation with some lingering pain. Load up the weight and use these movements to build some baseline strength to improve your tolerance to rotation and extension.

Give these a try if you are dealing with low back pain, specifically a spondylolisthesis!

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