During a camel spin lesson with spin specialist Kim Ryan, the skater complained of a tight or painful low back. As Kim demonstrates, this is often a result of tight hamstring muscles. Kim shares several stretches that can improve back pain, starting with a simple hamstring stretch where the skater takes a shoulder-width stance and drops the upper body toward the ice, keeping the back as flat as possible. If the skater rounds the lower back, it defeats the purpose in terms of relaxing and stretching the hamstrings.
Kim also has the skater stretch out the calves (although we can’t see it because we don’t have a good camera angle) by placing the toe pick on the wall and the heel of the blade into the ice so the foot is pointed upward and held in position. Then by bending and straightening the leg, the calf gets a dynamic stretch. Kim also has the skater step off the ice into the hockey box and perform another stretch involving a core twist. As Kim notes, this does not need to be forced, and simply letting the muscles relax into position is all that is needed, especially for a skater with back issues.
Note that Kim is performing these stretches and exercises as part of camel spin development. Some skaters really struggle with the camel spin because of hamstring tightness, which doesn’t allow them to settle the hips backward enough to properly balance the position.
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