Get To Your Core!

I had no problems with this test but have nerve pain down the back and outside of my left leg. Your piriformis stretch you have posted gave short term relief but was wondering about the week hip muscles you mentioned. Do you have a test for the hip/sciatica?
Thanks

Tried it and as I pushed my ribs down, back gave a slight pain. Hands almost straight, about 1″ from floor.

I am in the same boat as Todd (see above) I have had sciatica since I was pregnant (2 years ago). I have always felt that my body mechanics changed when I was pregnant and now I don’t walk or stand the same. From research I have done online it seems like the pain is coming from my SI joint. I have an MRI scheduled this week and am supposed to see a pain specialist soon for a possible epidural medications. I’m fine if my body requires that initial treatment in order for me to be able to regain strength and appropriate posture, but I don’t know what I should do in order to do that

Firstly, I am so grateful for this website; love my Chiro but I have unanswered questions and limitations that I want to overcome. When I did the test above all was well except that in order to put my left wrist completely on the floor I had to “press” it a little. When I did that I felt an uncomfortable stretch in my bicep (I think). What can I do for that?

My hands were about an inch off of the floor. My neck tends to get very tight. I have sciatic burning down my left leg from the hip to my foot. Sitting is quite uncomfortable and standing makes my feet hurt and burn. I believe this mostly comes from the piriformis muscle as my lower back never hurts. Am looking for exercises to loosen the piriformis an relieve the burning and hip pain that is starting to become more noticeable.

Great test! I’m a massage therapist and I have to constantly be checking my posture. One side was good and the other was difficult, with pain and tightness in my upper pec fibers moving superior and into the attachment on to the humerus. I’ll have to do some work on that pec, my rotator muscles and possibly rhomboids. The test really helped me pin point some areas to work on. I can really use this in my assessments. I like your style, it’s great to see someone with so much passion about this work. Thanks!

Did pretty well. I could not get quite all the arch out of my back, but the back seems the same whether the wrists are clear up on the floor or not. My really bad problem now is piriformis syndrome, and I found your piriformis stretch by googling “piriformis”. It seemed to be the best and simplest stretch and I have just done it one evening but I think it is helping already, after weeks & weeks of pain and stiffness. Thank you!

I suffer from upper and lower crossed syndrome. Any recommendations for which position or positions are best for sleeping?

thanks doctor steve for the amazing information. i passed the angel test, cant wait for the others. i use this in my initial postural audit when i start with a new client, but usually do it on the wall. would this be quivalent to do it on the floor? thanks for drawing attention to stabilizing the low back ribcage area, i will definitely be watching for that now!

was able to do this with no problem.

I was surprised to find my left arm as well as the bottom of my rib cage had a slight raise off the floor. I haven’t been doing my stretches lately and it really showed. I did some doorway pectoralis stretches and it got better

I failed the test, by about an inch. My shoulders feel both tight and weak. Looking forward to stretching (& strengthening?) exercises.

I’m delighted to have found your website. Five days ago I pulled muscle in my buttocks -gluteus maximus. I believe I may have piriformis syndrome (left side). Thanks to your sitting piriform exercise I can now sit and raise with no pain. Also found when I did the test I had the same experience as Janice,all fine but had to press left wrist down

You’ll wish you hadn’t asked! I found your YouTube video re:piriformis stretch by searching causes of hip pain. Left side,sharp but crampy pain (left),primarily when sitting & rising. The sitting piriformis exercise with the left leg crossing was very painful as well, but less like piriformis syndrome..more to the front pelvic bone/waist area.

The “floor angel” exercise was an abysmal, very painful failure in all areas. Nothing touched the floor(except when I pulled my knees to my chest). The area of my butt crossing the crest of both ilium(ilii?) always been very painful to even touching though.

Yes,I did something stupid last week…bent from the waist, lifted the corner of a queen mattress & propped it on my knee to pull a new dust ruffle on the bed. Thought it had eased up until yesterday when getting up from a lounge chair irritated the joint again. I hate NSAIDS but resorted to one 200mg ibuprofen this morning. I do have osteoarthritis elsewhere but August 2010 films showed no sacroiliac involvement. Some cervical 5-6-7 stuff, however. Should I see someone?

@drsteve Thanks for the quick reply,Dr.Steve. Found a local PT on the McKenzie website,but no DC. will check into activerelease.com too.

Failed the test. I could press down the right wrist which was about one inch from the floor. My left wrist was about two inches from the floor. When I tried to press it down it was really painful on the muscle on top of my left shoulder. I have no pains otherwise, “only” a wish to correct my bad posture.

i was suffering from deep pain in my hip area for 2 days.. i guess its because i am over weight and sit for long hours at the computer and also many times i have been told that my posture is not right.. i dont stand straight nor sit straight but now i am trying my best to sit straight and thats really helping me… Your piriformis stretch you have posted gave short term relief …. tried the floor angel test… my ribs were 1 inch from the floor (like i could easily get my hands underneath my ribs) …. and both of my wrists were half inch from the floor.. felt slight pain on my hips… cant wait for the next video

Steve,

I was able to get my ribs to the floor, but my right hand had about 1 inch at the wrist that didn’t touch the floor.

Laurie had no trouble keeping lower back on the floor. Right shoulder, elbow & wrist lay flat as well. Left elbow, wrist & hand came nowhere near the floor. It was about 10 to 12 inches above the floor.

George was fine, no problem!

When do we get our next test!?!?!

I am 68 and my body response was to have my wrists abt 4 inches off the floor. I have piriformis problems on the right leg causing sciatica. I have been stretching but the buttock area seems to be very inflamed and when I do your chair stretch my hamstring really is TIGHT! The stretching gives some relief. How often should I do it?

I appreciate getting some exercises without having to pay!!! That is a good method if you really want to help people.

No problems, except my right arm was about 4" from the ground because I strained the upper part of my bicep several years ago and haven't had "enough" PT to get it working right. I get most of my upper back pain on the left side along with tingling; on the right side of the shoulder blade and spine. I see an answer to one of my questions of how often to stretch hip/piriformis in your answer to Karen. Because if it feels good and works so well, I want to do it a lot. Is that good or bad? 

sadly the video clip has no sound…..so …… not as helpful as expected…am I missing some trick?

Apologies from me……the trouble is at my end…..maybe time for a new computer! Thanks for your response…..I look forward to learning more about about proper body usage with sound soon! Must just add that your piriformis stretch was a life saver when I recently had sciatica……thank you very, very much 

Passed the upper body test, though slight tightness felt in R pec major so will do some more work on that.  I am due to take my final exams in Clinical Sport and Remedial massage in 2 weeks so a great find for revision, for me personally and for the future. Thank you for such a useful site.

I have a lot of discomfort in both arm sockets doing this test so how do I improve flexibility? Do I just repeat this exercise frequently?

Hi Dr. Steve,
I just found your website and I'm looking forward to seeing if your exercises will help.  Although my D.O. hasn't really told me what my problem is all the symptoms point to the piriformis.  The D.O. basically said my sciatic nerve gets pinched where my pelvic and hip bones come together.  Since I'm not very savey on muscles, joints etc I just agreed as that's really what it felt like, the nerve was pinched.  After reading about the piriformis sounds like that's my main problem with probably more down that I don't know about.  I did the angel test and the ribs were okay except it did take a little concentration to keep them down and I could get both wrists on the ground however it took a little effort.
I do have one question though if it is the piriformis and it is pinched would it cause one leg to be shorter than the other, by an inch and a half in my case, until that muscle relaxes?
I look forward to reading your website more thorough and following the exercises as they are sent.
Thank you for the opportunity to hopefully "heal" myself and being able to do it for free especially with the economy the way it is.  It's too bad more doctor's don't have their patient's health first on their instead of the dollars.
Have a great day

I love your approach and website. My test results were surprising. I am about 90-95% on the test but have been experiencing major headaches on the top right side of my head a while after getting into bed regardless of whether I sleep with a pillow or not. I thought the headaches might be due to alcohol [I was drinking 2 glasses of wine per day] and stopped drinking any alcohol at all; so it has surprised me that the headaches have not ceased although no more of an everyday occurence than they were when I was imbibing..
Looking forward to test for lower extremities.I snapped both left pubic bones at end of a 150 mile hike over 12 days without sufficient stretching. Have been doing yoga daily for the past month. Thank you for correction of piriformis exercise. I was doing it with rounded back.

Hi, I'm checking out your info and resources currently.  I just did the initial self test… everything's flat on the floor, but my neck, a bit of an arch under, but not severe…  I do get neck aches periodically and headaches, I've endured migraines now and then as well.  My constant, nagging problem, though, is my low back and pelvic girdle… I have two bulging discs- L4/L5 and L5/S1… Yoga has saved me in a big way, keeping me mobile and giving me back much flexibility and relief, helping me to strengthen in a low-impact manner… however, I still deal with a good bit of pain daily.  My hips seem to keep getting off balance, I have been told I have a cyst in the cap of my left hip, not sure if/ how much this is a contributing factor.  My right hip feels as though it needs 'put back in place' very often and in several stretches (hinging forward at the hips) occasionally I get it to shift/ pop/ re-locate in a seemingly major way, and then I find great relief… but how do I get it to stay in position!?!.. this is my frustration.  I am not sure if I have a chronically contracted psoas, ligaments/tendons that are too lax/loose??…  definite imbalance of some sort!… usually when I get my hip to feel correct again my ankle (on the same side) will give a big pop, following my 'self-adjustment.'  I know there is much compensating going on in my body, I just want to get it all in the right place and strengthen it in that position so that it STAYS!!!!!!  I have gone to chiropractors for years…. relief sometimes, but c'mon!  I need fixed for GOOD!  I really look forward to hearing from you and hopefully finding some answers through your approach.

I have bilateral adhesive capsulitis of both shoulders as well as carpel tunnel in my right arm, numberness/tingling in my right shoulder blade and sciatic pain in my right leg.  I cannot do this test since my shoulders are frozen but my lower spine was probably 3" from the floor, I was unable to get it any closer.  Is this still a valid test for me?

I had no trouble doing it, but I felt the beginning of a sharp pain on the right side of my spine as I pushed down my back against the floor.  I relaxed, and it went away.

I'm 53 and  have had pain for 13 yrs, and I am very discouraged. I do not take drugs. I have L4, L5 ruptuered discs.  No insurance. Self employed.(very stressful)  for over a year the right hip and right shoulder are debilitating. now pain is stemming down my right leg wrapping around my foot.  also constant neck pain. The test was difficult,  although my left wrist was higher off the floor than my right. very much tension through my shoulder blades.  I just found your site from googling hip, neck and shoulder pain.  I'm looking foreward to some help from your videos.  Thank you very much.

I am asking for assitance, I had a bang on the head almost 19 years ago. Have had spasms through my left side for a long time. I was told I had a Dystona and drugs was all that was available which I declined. I am now having spasming through my diaphram and my sciatic nerve (i think) is challenged. I have spasms through the diaphram and stomach, through psoas muscle buttock and leg into my foot. THe nerve irritation is constant , I rarely take any pain medication although some times my pain is very servere. I have had all kinds of treatment, I think I have covered the lot. Can you help me

Firstly, huge thanks for the kindness in sharing your knowledge and expertise!
Here are my findings:
Naturally, my wrists were definitely angled and it took effort to try and relax/flatten them.  When I did, several things happened:
1.  My fingers come up as my wrists go down.  I could not keep my whole hand flat.  Don't know if that is significant at all?
2.  As I flattened my wrists, I could feel tension in my upper back – mainly around the shoulder blades.  As part or this I think my ribs would rise (only a little) from the floor.  
 
All of that was on the first test that I tried to do naturally.  On subsequent tests I focused my mind onto  my upper back and ribs, and with this I was able to flatten my wrists and feel less stress in the upper back AND keep my ribs to the floor.  The fingers issue remained though no matter what!