Lower back, upper back, neck, shoulders and wrists

Cat-Cow: Standing at Wall

Moves your whole spine through gentle rounding and arching while you stand at a wall, so you get the benefits of Cat-Cow without getting down to the floor or putting weight through your wrists.

How to do it

1. 1

   Stand facing a wall, about an arm's length away

   Bare feet on a floor that will not let you slide. This version keeps everything upright, so there is no getting down to the floor and no weight through the wrists.

2. 2

   Place both hands on the wall at shoulder height

   Arms long, feet hip width. Forearms on the wall work just as well if that suits your shoulders better.

3. 3

   Breathe in and let the chest open between your arms

   Let the tailbone tip gently back and the movement travel up the spine. The hands stay where they are.

4. 4

   Breathe out and round the back away from the wall

   Continue slowly for 60 to 90 seconds. Reduce the range at any point, or simply hold the neutral position and breathe.

What to watch for

Standing so close that your elbows bend and the movement turns into a shoulder shrug. Step back until the arms are long and you can feel the pelvis rocking underneath you. Being upright does not remove the need to stop if repeated cycling starts to spread sensation away from your back.

Ways to adjust it

• Keep the head in line with the spine and the range small
• Hands lower on the wall
• Forearms on the wall

If this one is too much today

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

• Cat-Cow: Seated Chair

Other ways to do this movement

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

• Cat-Cow: Blocks Under Hands
• Cat-Cow: Classic
• Cat-Cow: Seated Chair
• Cat-Cow: Seated Hands-Free
• Cat-Cow: Small Range

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.