Prone press-up (McKenzie press-up)

How to move

1. Lie face down with your forehead on the floor, hands flat under your shoulders, elbows bent and legs relaxed. If this alone hurts, start with sphinx pose instead.
2. Breathe out and slowly straighten your arms to lift your chest, keeping your hips on the floor.
3. Keep your lower back and buttocks relaxed, so the arch comes from your arms pushing, not from squeezing your back muscles.
4. Pause for 1 to 2 seconds at the top, letting your belly sag towards the floor.
5. Lower slowly. Repeat, going a little higher each time if it stays comfortable.

Form cues

• Let the arms do the work; the back stays soft.
• Breathe out on the way up.
• Avoid: lifting the hips off the floor, clenching the buttocks or back, shrugging the shoulders up to the ears, holding your breath, or pushing on through pain that spreads down the leg.

Practice and cautions

10 slow repetitions, 3 to 5 times a day, while it helps. An editorial starting point: McKenzie programmes repeat movements in the direction that eases pain, but the trial reports behind this guide do not give a standard dose.

Stop if pain spreads further down the leg or you get new pins and needles or numbness. A short-lived rise in central back ache while leg symptoms move back towards the spine is acceptable. Skip it with lumbar spinal stenosis or if arching brings on leg symptoms, and avoid lying face down later in pregnancy. This is movement education, not an assessment or treatment prescription. Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling; seek individual guidance for symptoms, injury or restrictions.