Cat-Cow stretch · Low back pain · St. Louis · Regen.MD physiotherapy
Cat-Cow stretch:
motion for a stiff spine
Cat-cow is a slow spinal motion done on all fours. Hump your back up toward the ceiling like an arching alley cat, then let your belly drift floorward. No holds, ten slow rounds.
Only the exercises your physician has ticked on your home plan are yours to do. Twice daily is the rhythm unless the written plan says something different.
Step by step: cat-Cow stretch
- Starting position. On all fours: wrists stacked under shoulders, knees under hips.
- The motion. Hump the spine toward the ceiling like a startled cat, then let the belly drift floorward. Smooth, unhurried, no pauses.
- How much. Ten slow rounds with no pauses.
What the cat and cow does for tissue repair
Spinal discs and joints have a thin blood supply and depend on movement to trade fluid in and out. Small, easy motion is how they are fed. It also loosens a back that has been held still out of fear of pain.
Fresh from an injection? Read this first
After a PRP or other orthobiologic injection in your low back, the treated tissue needs a protected stretch of days before it is asked to work. Your physician tells you when this exercise comes back. When it does, start with fewer repetitions and build to the full dose over the following visits. Loading in steps like this is how the repair signal from the injection turns into stronger tissue.
More on that: why load is the treatment an injection cannot supply.
Form errors we correct most often
- Jerking from one position to the other.
- Sinking hard into the low point of the sag.
- Locking the elbows rigid.
Signs that mean stop and phone us
Feeling the muscle work, a gentle pull, or some next-day stiffness is normal. Call us at (314) 295-3000 if you notice:
- Pain that turns sharp or stabbing
- A pain score that climbs 2 or more points and stays up longer than an hour
- New numbness, tingling or loss of strength
- Feeling dizzy, or your eyesight changing
Call 911, not the clinic, for chest pain, a hard time breathing or passing out.
Tracking what changes
Keep a short log: a check mark for each session and one pain score per day. Hand it over at each appointment; your technician tallies the sessions and has you perform one repetition so your form can be corrected. At each re-check you also repeat the same function questionnaire, and if your physician orders it, a Kinetisense 3D motion scan, so the change is measured instead of guessed.
What to remember
- Smooth and unhurried.
- Easy at the low point.
- Elbows stay soft.
Show us you have it: Before you go, do three slow cycles on the mat at your next visit. If a point is fuzzy, say so and we walk through it again with you.
The rest of the low back series
- Pelvic tilt: core brace
- Knee to chest: low back and seat stretch
- Bridge: hip strength
Related reading: PRP for degenerative disc and facet pain, hip-spine syndrome.
Where this fits: the Regen.MD physiotherapy program, physician-directed rehab paired with our regenerative care. A physician must be in the building and reachable within moments before any treatment begins.