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The following exercise should be performed under the guidance of your Physiotherapist or Osteopath to ensure you are doing it correctly and prevent aggravation of your condition.
Please click here to learn how the back works before reading the following.
Lie on your back on the floor with your hips and knees bent and your feet on the floor. Your pelvis should be in neutral. Please click on the link to learn <a href=”https://www.octopusclinic.com/finding-pelvic-neutral.html”>how to find pelvic neutral</a>.
Put one hand on your upper stomach and focus on breathing from here. Put the other hand on your lower abdomen.
You first need to contract your pelvic floor muscle:
MEN: Imagine you are standing into a cold lake and you are going to lift your testicles off the water without moving your pelvis!
WOMEN: Imagine you are going to stop yourself from peeing (but never practice doing this whilst actually peeing, it is not good for the urinary tract!) Make sure you draw the muscles towards your head, not downwards like when constipated. If you have had had children you may find this particularly difficult. If this is the case, please contact us and we will recommend a Womens Health Specialist Physiotherapist or Osteopath who can help you, or you can ask your GP for a referral.
Maintain this contraction as you now gently contract your lower abdominal muscles whilst keeping your upper abdominals relaxed (breathing from diaphragm helps this.)You must be careful not to brace and stick your abdomen outwards – the lower abdomen should move DOWN towards the floor, as your belly button moves towards your spine. You should be contracting the muscles gently – no more than about 20% of your maximum effort. There should be no movement in your pelvis or back – purely in the contraction of the muscle.
Once you can do this easily, lie on a long foam roller with your head at one end and your bum at the other, your knees and hips bent, your feet on the floor and your hands hovering just above the floor.
Contract these muscles again as above as you lift one foot momentarily off the floor and down again. Now lift the other leg. Repeat x 30.
If when you can do this you can add lifting the opposite arm at the same time. You will see why this exercise is often called dead bugs. Remember that your upper abdomen should be relaxed throughout and your lower abdomen contracted and notstickingout.
Please note that although the advice and exercises provided are designed to assist your recovery they are not a replacement for seeing a Physiotherapist or Osteopath. It is essential that you always make sure you see your Doctor, Osteopath or Chartered Physiotherapist beforehand to diagnose your injury and guide you through recovery.
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