1Thoracic Extension
- Starting position: Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat. Position a foam roller horizontally behind you, just beneath your shoulder blades.
- Lean back so your upper back rests on the foam roller and place your hands behind your head to support your neck, keeping your elbows wide.
- Engage your core slightly to avoid overarching your lower back.
- Lower your buttocks to the floor to maintain support.
- Slowly arch your upper back over the foam roller, allowing your spine to gently extend. Focus on opening up through the chest without straining the neck.
- Pause briefly at the end of the movement, then return to the starting position by engaging your core.
- Gradually adjust the position of the foam roller up or down your thoracic spine and repeat to target different segments.
- Complete repetitions as prescribed by your physiotherapist.
Make sure to hold at the bottom for ~5sec
2Thoracic Rotation
- In a standing position, ensure the band or cable is anchored at waist level.
- With the side of your hips facing band, hold the band with both hands and ensure a slight bending of the elbows.
- From this position bring arms across body to the other side, following your arms with your head.
- Return to the starting position and repeat as per physiotherapist instruction.
Complete on each side. Can also do on cable machine.
3Deadbug
- Lie on your back with knees bent up.
- Slowly one leg at a time bring your legs into tabletop position.
- Extend both arms to the ceiling directly in front of your chest.
- Extend opposite arm and opposite leg away from your trunk breathing out as you do.
- Bring the arm and leg back to the start point while breathing in.
- Repeat on the opposite side or as prescribed by your Physiotherapist.
Make sure to not let the arch in your spine get any bigger, and make sure to engage through your transversus abdominis (I have sent the video of how to engage this), rather than holding your breath and bracing thourgh your core.
Can substitute with planks or back extensions
4Transversus Abdominis Activation
- Performed lying on your back with the knees gently bent and feet firmly planted.
- Using your index and middle finger find the bony points of the pelvis and drop into the valley inside on the abdomen.
- To feel for that muscle activation, cough to feel the muscle spring back.
- Breathe towards the pelvis and abdomen and feel the muscle rise and fall as you exhale and let the body melt towards the floor.
Showing you how to engage your transversus abdominis – do this before lifting i.e squats
5Single Leg Bridge
- Come into a lying position on the mat with the hands by your side.
- This will reduce the amount of support provided by the upper limb.
- Bend the knees with the heels in line with the sit bones.
- Lift the non-target leg off the floor.
- Press through the foot to lift the hips up.
- Focus on keeping the pelvis level.
- Repeat as per Physiotherapist guidelines.
Complete on each side.
Can substitute with hip thrusts or hip extension.
6Bench Press
- For this exercise use weight as prescribed by your physiotherapist.
- Come to a position on the bench, lying down flat with head rested on the bench and feet on the ground.
- From here, push weights up towards the roof to straighten elbows.
- Return to starting position and repeat as per physiotherapist instruction.
Can do with either dumbbells or bar at the gym.
7Childs Pose – QL
- Come into a kneeling position with the knees wider than the feet.
- Extend the arms along the floor in front of you.
- Begin to move the arms towards one corner of the mat.
- Send your hips into the opposite direction to ‘open’ the target side.
10 each side