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Seated Forward Bend With a Posterior Pelvic Tilt, Hands Sliding Down the Calves

BeginnerMobilityTier T1

You sit on a stool and tilt your pelvis backwards and hold it. Then you roll your spine forward and down while your hands slide down the front of your calves toward your ankles. You should feel a stretch in your lower back.

Targets: Lumbar Spine
Muscles: Gastrocnemius

Stop if

These exercises should not increase your symptoms. Cease the exercise if you do experience an increase.

  • Pain 6 out of 10 or more: choose an easier exercise.
  • Pain 8 out of 10 or more: stop and rest.

Equipment needed

  • Works at home
  • Works at the gym

none

Home Options

  • bodyweight

Dosage

2

Sets

10

Reps / Time

30 sec

Rest

controlled

Tempo

Step-by-Step Guide

Set up

  • Begin with a small number of repetitions, perhaps 5 to 10 of each exercise, and build this up gradually as your pain allows.
  • It is okay to feel a stretch in your spine while doing the exercise. These exercises should not increase your symptoms; if they do, stop the exercise.
  1. A woman sitting upright on a backless stool with her pelvis tucked backward, both feet flat on the floor and both hands resting on her thighs.

    Step 1 of 3

    Slowly rotate your pelvis backwards and hold this position.

  2. The same woman now bent forward from the trunk, her spine rounded, both hands partway down the front of her calves and her head hanging low.

    Step 2 of 3

    Bend forward, rolling your spine down while your hands slide down the front of your calves toward your ankles.

  3. A woman sitting upright on a backless stool with her pelvis tucked backward, both feet flat on the floor and both hands resting on her thighs.

    Step 3 of 3

    Slowly rotate your pelvis backwards and hold this position.

What you should feel

A stretch in the lower back.

Breathing

  • Breathe normally throughout.

Safety Information

Warning: seek urgent medical help if you get numbness around the groin or bottom, or new bladder or bowel problems. Stop if the exercise causes pain or you become unwell. Seek appropriate professional advice about symptoms or suitability.