Lower back, hips, knees, upper back, neck and shoulders

Bridge: Legs on Chair

A deeply supported bridge with your legs resting on a chair: gentle extension for your lower back with almost no effort or load.

How to do it

1. 1

   Lie on your back with your feet on a chair

   Set a steady chair so your knees bend at roughly a right angle with both feet flat on the seat, hip width apart. Your head rests on the floor and your arms lie loose at your sides.

2. 2

   Press evenly through both feet into the seat

   A steady push into the chair is all this needs. The chair is carrying the weight of your legs, so very little is being asked of you.

3. 3

   Lift your hips a small way and stop there

   Let your pelvis rise just enough to feel a light line from knees to shoulders. Small range is the whole idea of this version.

4. 4

   Hold and rest in turns for one to three minutes

   Lift, hold for a while, lower, and repeat as suits you. For less again, rest your pelvis on a block instead of lifting, keep the range smaller, or shift where your feet sit on the seat.

What to watch for

The chair makes this comfortable enough to continue long past the point where the neck and shoulders start bracing. Keep your head heavy on the floor, and stop if sensation begins to spread rather than stay in one place.

Ways to adjust it

• Bridge: Supported Sacrum
• Reduce lift height
• Small range, stop with symptom spread
• Mini bridge
• Adjust foot position on the chair
• Small range
• Stop if symptoms spread
• Head stays relaxed on the floor
• Arms relaxed at the sides

If this one is too much today

Try the gentler version instead. It asks less of you and does much the same work.

• Bridge: Supported Sacrum

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits. See all Bridge versions in one place, ordered from gentlest to strongest.

• Bridge: Block Between Knees
• Bridge: Classic Hold
• Bridge: Mini
• Bridge: Movement
• Bridge: Supported Sacrum
• Bridge: Wall
• Glute Bridge: Single Leg

Before you try it

Move within a range that stays comfortable. Stop if this brings on sharp pain, dizziness, or symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.

From the clinically authored Vinys movement library.