This is a favorite 'go to' exercise for a great number of the patients in my clinic. Patients with the following conditions have a tendency to have decreased spinal stability:
- Herniated cervical spine discs
- Sciatica
- Low Back Pain
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Herniated lumbar spine discs
- Meniscus Tears
- Hip impingement
- and more
When there is decreased spinal stability, there will be excessive and destructive movement in the neck, shoulders and lower back. This adds a great deal of stress to the areas and opens the door to injuries like low back pain or sciatica. To deal with this I like starting off my patients with this pilates and physiotherapy exercise:
Pointers:
- Start with your hands directly under your shoulder and your knees directly under your hips
- Raise up one arm and the opposite leg up (like superman does)
- Reach your arm forwards and your leg backward as far as possible
- Don't let yourself hold your breathe and hold the pose for 4-5 second
- *NOTE* - if you notice when I filmed this video, I had a lot of lumbar flexion and pelvic tilting. I'd recommending limiting that as much as possible so for a lot of people that means you don't need to touch your knee all the way to your elbow during the flexion part.