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

Tabletop: Classic

Builds the deep spinal stabilisers that support your back and reduce strain on passive structures: one of the most foundational therapeutic movements for back care.

How to do it

1. 1

   Come onto your hands and knees

   Hands directly under your shoulders, knees directly under your hips, fingers spread wide.

2. 2

   Set the spine long and level

   Reach the crown of your head one way and the tailbone the other so the back is flat. Look down between your hands so the neck continues that line.

3. 3

   Push the floor away through your hands

   Press evenly through the whole hand so the shoulder blades stay wide and the chest does not sink between your arms.

4. 4

   Hold the shape while the breath moves

   The job is to keep the shape completely unchanged as you breathe. Fold a blanket under the knees if they complain, and come onto forearms, fists or a chair if the wrists do.

5. 5

   Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, then sit back

   Rest with your hips toward your heels for a few breaths before repeating.

What to watch for

The lower back sagging toward the floor as you tire, which quietly hands the job over to your joints instead of the muscles you came for. Shorten the hold rather than keep a shape that has already collapsed, and come out if anything starts spreading into an arm or a leg.

Ways to adjust it

• Range per ability
• Gaze down cue
• One knee forward modification
• Blanket under knees
• Forearm support
• Hands on chair
• Fists
• Blocks

If this one is too much today

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

• Tabletop: Hover

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits.

• Tabletop: Hover

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.