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almost but very very stiff. looking forwArd to working on this!
Back of hands were on the ground but not the wrists!
Both of my wrists are way up….
I have a 1″ gap between my wrists and the floor. Will practice help over time? Thank you.
I am able to do this exercise with not much problem. I am young and apparently flexible but I do slouch alot.
Love your information!
I am flexible. Ribs and wrist rest easily on the floor.
Working with someone is helpful for a beginner .i believe I was able to preform this activity fairly well however the problem I experienced was a tightness across the collar bone while I had my hands in a hands up position ..I had difficulty knowing whether my wrists were touching the folly. My lower back touched the floor all of the time and my head was in a ,normal,position
i could’t believe i couldn’t get the wrists and back all down at the same time. came close but stiff and not all the way down with my wrists.
i am a 64 yr old former nurse that seems to be degenerating over the last 15 yrs but with your help maybe not so much anymore.
thank you!!!
My head was way back. I felt like I was looking over my head. My hands were a few inches off the floor. I am now working on (both) frozen shoulders, so I blame some of it on that. Recovery is a slow process. I have a strong core, so no problem with keeping my ribs in contact and low. I am 69 years old, and in pretty good shape, but 30 years of bad posture has taken its toll. I’m ready to get over the headaches and backaches and muscle spasms. Thank you.
The fundamentals series should help a lot, Gary. Yes, recovery can be slow with stiff shoulder capsules. But keeping or restoring your upper back mobility is critical to being able to have normal shoulder function. It would be good to get some soft tissue work on your shoulder. Search http://www.activerelease.com for practitioners near you.
I was able to hold this position fairly well; I only had a slight lift of my right wrist – maybe 1/2″. I don’t think this is my issue. My pain is left leg sciatica, and I’m looking for ways to be more pro-active at home while I get chiropractic or PT therapy.
Dinah search the site here for “piriformis stretch” and “disc”. Consume the content that comes up and it should help a lot.
I am 60 years old with shoulder pain and use to be reasonably fit and active.
But, due to sinuses and undetected tooth/ jaw infection over a long time, has drained my health and energy to the point of not beaning able to work full time. I would do three hours work and need three days to recover. As a result I only can do some small part time work. I use to swim and cycle to keep this old body in shape. But lack of physical activity has lead me to having weak muscles.
Fourteen months ago, I was top dressing the school lawns, when my shoulder pain started. Scans showed nothing major, just inflammation. Went to physio and ended up with tennis elbow.
Same thing this year, but no physio exercises like last year to avoid tennis elbow again. Started to do my own research and came across your web site. I started to look at my posture and noticed it was sadly lacking.
The angle floor test I did, showed my wrists, neck and back were off the floor. Looks like I have Crossed Posture Syndrome and who knows what else.
Thanks for your informative web site and keep up the good work.
Cheers
My wrists are way up and i have all the symptoms, hand and arm tingling and pain, shoulder pain, trigger points in rhomboids and mid/low back pain.
Work the fundamental exercise series, Bern. If you feel like it’s the right path, consider enrolling in the full course.
With the “Floor Angel Test” my wrists stopped about 4-5 inches above the floor with my back flat and head horizontal. I can gently force my wrist to the floor with my back still flat on the floor. This position is mildly painful.
My main concerns are poor posture and peripheral neuropathy (numbness on the soles of my feet). I have been diagnosed by a Neurologist (viewing the MRI of my spine) to have mild Spinal Stenosis. I have mild back pain that can be ignored easily without pain medicine.
Thank you for helping me improve my posture and guiding my exercise therapy.
I’ll be interested in how the exercise series treats you back, Arthur.
My ribs are touching the floor and my left hand wrist touches the floor. I cannot get my right hand down it is about
8 inches above the floor and that is as far as I can get it down. I have been diagnosed with rotator cuff injury. Can you suggest anything I can do for my right shoulder.
Thanks
Wow, I can touch the floor with my ribs, and my left wrist almost touches the floor. My right wrist is another story, it is at least 6 inches above the floor. I also feel alot of tension and pain in my upper chest while pushing my ribs in floor. Need to find out exactly what exercises will bring the tension, pain and right wrist into normal range.
I wasn’t able to get my lower back to touch or either of my hands to touch.
I couldn’t get hands to touch floor but could get back and ribs to floor, uncomfortable neck in this position.
Sounds like the angels and t4 mobilization stuff in the fundamentals series will be beneficial.
Where do I find the fundamental series?
Hi Lee, link for the fundamental series and self test is in the email you received when you subscribed to my email list. I’ll send you an email with the link.
I have mild scoliosis and notice that one side is much less flexible when trying to keep my wrists flat. Do you have any suggestions for correcting imbalances? I am left-handed and notice I overly reach with this favored hand and shoulder, which throws me more out of balance.
Getting reconnected in baby back and baby belly as well as working the foam / floor angels and T4 mobilizations will help to generally bring you back to center, Cynthia.
But there’s too many possibilities at the root of your imbalances to tell you exactly what to do.
The fundamental series will get you started, if you would like more detailed and personal help you can enroll here and we will do our best together to get you centered, OK?
Floor Angel – my ribs were on the floor and my head, my right wrist was right to the floor but I could get my baby finger under my left wrist.
I have had several whiplashes over a period of 35 years, the last was 5 years ago. I have exercise I do regularly. Will try your program.
I also have a low back issue and sciatica will do the test for lower crossed syndrome.
I was able to get my ribs down, but my wrists were a solid 8″ off the floor.
I’m 45, was a power lifter till I was 38 and just started lifting again about a year ago. (lighter weights, more like a bodybuilder).
My whole body feels tight, and not in a good way.
This work is important for you, Mario. As a weight lifter, sometimes it’s easy to bypass the deep inner core because the outer global muscles have taken over and picked up the slack for so long.
But as you know…all that picking up the slack can create very tight, and often…dysfunctional muscle balance.
Take is slow and focus on form.
I can connect ribs to the floor with elbows and arms flat on the floor – without unpleasant tension in chest or neck. Flexibility is not my issue.But by taking these tests and watching your other videos I have been able to close in on my real problem. I realize now that my problem is really weak “core muscles”.
I have to explain that I suffer on and off from a lower back condition – vertabrae slippage between L4 and L5 – for over 30 years at least (I am now 75 years old). I have gotten by this far with massages, special exercizes, injections, heat treatment etc. once or twice a year. Other than that I always thought that sports (like bike riding, swimming and such but NEVER jogging because absolutely kills me!) and health activity (like yoga, fitness studio etc.) would benefit me. Now (finally) I realize that none of my activities really helped me because I was always making form mistakes – doing the movements wrong! and more pain was the usually result.
In addition to that I slipped on ice this winter, fell flat on my back and cracked my L3 vertabrae. My orthop. Doctor´s first concern was maybe a case of osteoporosis. Thank goodness no – my bone density is above average for my age. So I have been wearing a back brace for almost 3 months now. Wearing the back brace feels so good that I began to realize that my pain and back stress have a lot to do with bad posture. When working, doing my chores or sitting at the computer I tend to slouch without noticing it until my back starts to hurt. After I take a break and ease off for a while the pain pretty much goes away.
Your “ultimate back brace” exercise video is my new routine. Thank you so much.
Yes, the ultimate back brace is VERY important for you! Keep it up. You can come out of this with good function.
Back down with floor angel but arms barely made good contact with floor. Lots of stiffness in shoulders when arms move.. Had rotator cuff surgery in both shoulders about 8 and 9 years ago and never really got full range and flexibility back. Excited to find out more about your program.
Hi Dr. Steve,
That was a bit stressful! I was able to push my lower back flat down ok, my pecs were way tight and the front of my shoulders got a little sore. I was able to get one wrist flat, but the other one has a 1/8 inch gap if I really strain. My mid back got sore also. I do a lot of forward head studying and reading. I think I need some stretching?
Foam Angels, Dolph. Pay that tissue debt.
Thank you for your comments. Yes I’ve seen that before, but not sure where. Could you send a link to explain tissue debt?
Just lying down in that position without doing anything, both wrists go flat down. I have no trouble keeping them there. But my back kind of arches off the floor. I had to push down on my lower back to get the ribs on the floor. 🙁
Hi Dr. Steve,
Have you seen a correlation between UCS and hyposthenic patients? That is, does the adipose tissue on the larger patients somehow protect their posture? Isn’t it usually the marked hyposthenic patients that fall prey to UCS? So my real question isn’t who becomes afflicted with UCS, but who, as a group, doesn’t? And do you see a population of post-reproductive system cancer patients, that is, with lymphedematous features, or is this in the same category as the larger patients who are supported by excess tissue?
Thank you,
Dolph
I just did the self test. I cannot rest my wrist on the floor,my hand rests on the knuckles. I do suffer with numbness and tingling in my arms and legs. I have Fibro and Arthritis .I also recently had Chikungunya which made both worse.Every nightni have numbness in my right arm
With my swayback I had to make a special effort to flatten it & then hold that position for a few minutes. My arms & wrists rested on the floor.
OK but
Thorax T6-7 is bent to the right (standing X-ray)
so I have some issue with that.
Pain on daily basis.
Tuff to make it straight again.
I could do your exersice for t-4 though.
Not bad for 60+.
I could do it, but my 3-4 upper thorax vertebraes
didn’t like it at all. Very stiff and a bit painful.
Muscles on the right side are tight too.
My wrists don’t touch.
My right wrist/hand touched the floor but my left stayed about 2 inches off the floor.
ribs are flat on floor right hand and wrist are flat left hand about three inches above the ground. I am left handed and cut hair for 25 years. Had to stop because of carpel tunnel.
Can’t get my spine flat on the floor. Wrist’s and hands about 6 inches off the floor with head at approximately 45 degrees from vertical. Severe scoliosis; T12 compression fracture; migraines requiring sumatriptan at least 15 days out of the month.
I felt really good at 72 being able to accomplish the first test.
As I watched the video demonstration and thought to myself “I can do this!”. However, I was very surprised when I was unable to place the back of my hands on the floor without lifting my ribs off the floor. Apparently, I have some work to do. I appreciate that you have provided a way to correct the problem. Thank you!
I can do this easily, but my clients surely cannot. Good info to use on them to bring awareness to their posture. I so appreciate these video’s! Thank you!
I passed the test
Quite successful. Left upper arm tighter which is worked on in massage with neck and shoulder as sleep on this side. Also that wrist a bit elevated but not hand. Does change breathing pattern. Is this something we should practice? Hang out in position longer? Sore neck after doing.
Hey Sheila, sorry I don’t get to blog comments as frequently as I do in the course. For a more prompt response please post in the course since you have purchased and enrolled.
All the self tests are in there as well.
Yes, different positions will try to invoke different breathing. The goal is to maintain your good 360 degree low and slow core functional breath in any position.
If you are in an exercise, pose, or whatever…if you can’t nail a good functional breath, you need to modify or re-mediate the movement until you can.
Hope that helps…see you inside the CWI course!
drh
Failed! Wrists are inches above ground and back not flat to ground. Very interesting test. And I felt better after trying it. I have degenerating cervical discs, although not serious per M.D, but experiencing more and more pain which is starting to keep me awake at night. Head down to toes, especially the left side. Along with numbness and tingling. Am studying tai chi which has done wonders for my balance and initially my back pain. Walk the dogs, or rather they walk me. I stumbled onto your piriformis exercise video one night and was able to return to sleep after practicing this so am hopeful you can help me. 55 years old, sit at a computer all day.
I can have my ribs neck and head on the floor, but my forearms and particularly hands are suspended and are unable to touch the floor
My ribs and wrists are flat to ground, although my right hand wrist is less than half inch above the ground.
I could put my right arm on the floor easily, but the left arm was not good. My left elbow, wrist and hand was 1 to 2″ off the floor. My chest has been pretty tight since I had a mastectomy 5 yrs. ago. I’ve worked on stretching and my range is better than it used to be, but I didn’t do very well on this test. My left shoulder really hurts.
I see that a lot with my post mastectomy patients, Louisa. But it does get better with consistent focus on floor / foam angels. Put “shoulder” into the search box here on the blog for more tips.
I knew before hand I would fail miserably at this test having tried something similar standing up against a wall. I spent all of my fifties in chronic pain from my neck down my back and all the way down to my ankles worst by far in my coccyx making sitting virtually impossible. You are absolutely right on the money 🙂 in addressing muscles and soft tissue as it was a therapist who specialised in this area that gave me relief from the coccyx pain thus avoiding surgery. It seems most of the muscles and soft tissue in my body have been affected over time. Like Jeri Tai Chi has helped my balance and posture however I still need to address the tightness and pain in soft tissue and muscle as an on going practice. Thank you so much for your site.
I can do it for a few seconds but it is difficult.
Uncomfortably tight across the upper chest and shoulders, right side more than left. Very informative.
and very common, Kat. Keep us posted as you do the fundamental exercises.
Almost there! Ribs touched, hands touched but wrists did not quite make the floor. Did notice that doing this left me feeling like I had a nice stretch across my upper back.
Left arm and hand couldn’t do it. I had to much pain in my shoulder and sub scapula ( I think that’s what it’s called )
I thought I would not have a problem with this one but my left wrist is about 2-3 inches up off the floor when I am resting in position!. I actually looking forward to correcting this. My pain is right hip, knee and really all of my right leg. I look forward to the other 2 tests to see where all that lands. Not good I am sure as my ROM for my right leg is terrible. So glad I found your website and look forward to learning more about CPS.
No problem at all