How to do it
You need: A cushion or folded towel for your knees, A partner to hold your ankles, or a strap or heavy furniture to hook your heels under.
Kneel upright on a cushion with your ankles held firmly down by a partner or hooked under a fixed support. Cross your arms over your chest.
- Hold your body in a straight line from your knees to your head, with your hips gently pushed forwards.
- Slowly let your body tip forwards, resisting the fall with the backs of your thighs for as long as you can.
- When you can no longer hold, let your hands catch you softly on the floor.
- Push yourself back up with your arms to the start - the slow lowering is the only working part.
Form cues
- Your hips stay open in line with your body, not folding at the waist.
- You resist and slow the fall as much as you can rather than dropping.
- You feel the backs of your thighs working hard through the lower.
Common mistakes
- Bending at the hips so it becomes a forward bow rather than a straight-body lower.
- Dropping quickly once past halfway instead of fighting it the whole way.
- Doing this while the strain is still painful to walk on or tender to touch - it needs a later stage of healing.
Safety: Stop and message your physio if you feel a sharp pull in the back of the thigh, or next-day pain and stiffness that does not settle.