ELDOA Exercises for Lower Back Pain Relief: Discover effective ELDOA techniques to alleviate lower back discomfort and improve spinal health.

What is your Low Back?

• You have five lumbar vertebrae (there is an ELDOA for each disk in-between) they are the largest in the spinal column. They are uniquely shaped kind of like kidney bean. They are wider than they are deep. The transverse processes are long and the spinous processes are thick and broad. The intravertebral disc are very thick, allowing for mobility and resistance to force.
• The design and organization of the lumbar vertebrae allow for lateral stabilization and minimize rotation. They have seven ligaments that cross all lumbar vertebrae. The ligaments include the anterior longitudinal ligament, posterior longitudinal ligament, the interspinous ligament, and the ligamentum flavum to name a few. The fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae have ligaments (iliolumbar ligaments) that connect the vertebrae directly to the pelvis. These ligaments play a major role in sidebending of the lumbar spine.
• The largest vertebrae in the entire body is that fifth lumbar vertebrae which is also the most inferior segment of the lumbar spine. The disc between the fifth lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum is the last shock absorber in the spine and is the m most susceptible to stress related injuries. L5 – S1 is the most common segment for pathology of the spine.

Understanding where your low back pain comes from.

Mechanical/Structural Problems

Back pain can happen when mechanical or structural problems develop in the spine, discs, muscles, ligaments, or tendons in the back, or compress a nerve.

• Sprain: an injury to the ligaments that support the pine (which connect the different bones together), often occurring from twisting or lifting improperly.
• Strain: an injury to a muscle or tendon.
• Degenerative disc disease: aging causes the discs between the vertebrae of the spine to break down. It is associated with other degenerative changes in the spine, such as arthritis or spinal stenosis.
• Herniated or ruptured discs: an event causing a disc to compress and irritate nearby nerves. This often occurs at the lumbar level but can be present in the cervical spine as well.
• Spondylolisthesis: a vertebra in the spine slips out of place or gradually moves out of alignment.
• Spinal stenosis: a narrowing of the spinal canal that puts pressure on the spinal cord and nerves.
• Fractured vertebrae.
• Scoliosis or other congenital changes to the spine.
• Myofascial pain: tightness and pain of the muscles supporting the spine due to damage to the muscles or a result of the nerve input to the muscles coming from the spine.

Inflammatory Conditions

• Ankylosing spondylitis, a specific type of arthritis of the spine.
• Other types of inflammatory arthritis of the spine.

Other Medical Conditions

• Osteoporosis, which can lead to painful fractures of the vertebrae.
• Fibromyalgia, a condition of widespread muscle pain and fatigue.
• Kidney stones or infections.
• Endometriosis, which is the buildup of uterine tissue in places outside the uterus.
• Infections that involve the bones of the spine or the discs between these bones, which can cause back pain.
• Tumors, in rare cases, that develop on the spine or other areas of the back.
• Pregnancy.

If you want to take an even deeper dive into managing back pain, check out this interview between Dr Peter Attia and Dr Stu McGill.

What are ELDOA Exercises?

• The ELDOA our postural exercises that you can do yourself with the primary goal being to increase base with an a joint. Designed by French osteopath Dr. Guy VOYER , the elder utilize myofascial stretching to put tension around a joint making at the center of separating forces. The human spine is a complicated and vital structure. Compression and articular blocks can cause pain, arthritis, and neurological conditions. The ELDOA exercises are a highly effective solution to these conditions. As the Eldora create space, there’s an improvement in joint mechanics, increased blood flow, reduced pressure on the desk, a reduction of pain, spinal disc rehydration, better muscle tone, improved posture, and a sense of well-being and awareness.

Goals of the ELDOA.

1. To create more space between the vertebrae.
2. To create more space for the intervertebral disc.
3. To decompress the nerve between the vertebrae.
4. To improve proprioception of the vertebral joint segment.
5. To improve proprioception of the Functional Spinal Unit (FSU).
6. To hydrate the intervertebral disc.
7. To move all the parts of the annulus fibrosis to stimulate the water intake.

HOw to perform an ELDOA.

• Be well-hydrated.
• Wake up the proprioceptors with an osteo-articular warm-up.
• The best stretch for the spine is an axial erection as it gives discal expansion and disengagement of the facet joints that carry sensory information.
• Fix the joint above and below.
• Bent knee – foot eversion/straight knee – pseudo inversion of the foot.
• External rotation of the upper limb; elbows locked.
• Maintain global tension from the toes to the crown of the head and to the tips of the fingers.
• Eyes down for tension of the dura mater.
• Soft cheeks to release the tension in the TMJ.
• BREATHE OUT.
• Hold each ELDOA for 60 seconds.
• Release the posture gently to prevent a rebound effect.
• The FACTORS OF PROGRESSION (FOP) are important to make the postures user-friendly while helping to develop the rigor of  each posture. 
• Adapt the exercises (for the person) to develop cortical awareness: hence the FOP in Awareness training.

Effects of the ELDOA.

Depression of the superior and inferior facet joints.

• Impression of the intervertebral disc

• Increased venous, epidural, longitudinal, transverse, and emissary circulation

• Tonic muscular regulation by external eccentric contraction of all the muscles of the solicited chains

• Proprioceptive facilitation of all the articulations that have been crossed

• Improved kinesthetic sense of the myofascial chains

• Correction of the postural discrepancies
• Normalization of the primary respiratory mechanism (PRM)
• Reduction of psychomotor barriers
• Metabolic and neuro-hormonal facilitation

Conclusion.

In conclusion, you have five lumbar vertebrae with a disc in between each vertebrae. These vertebrae are susceptible to numerous dysfunctions creating different types of pain. Once the pain source is properly identified the ELDOA is the only tool in the world designed to create space between each vertebrae. I hope this brief blog post has given you a general idea of how the ELDOA works. If you’d like an in-depth understanding and learn how to do it properly please visit our website.