The press-up may be the exercise you need.
Why this matters:
Robin McKenzie discovered the press-up exercise by accident. He had a patient lay face down on a table that he assumed to be flat. However, to his dismay, the table was inclined and the patient was laying face down in this awkward pressed up position. Before apologizing, he checked to see how the patient was feeling, and miraculously, the patient was cured. It was thought to have been due to pushing the herniated disc back into the center of the spine. This was the birth of the press-up exercise that was adopted into a lot of back and sciatica pain programs.
The challenge was, most back rehabilitation programs also had the patients complete the child’s pose stretch, figure 4 stretch, and the cat-cow stretch. These movements on their own and in the right scenario are extremely helpful. However, if a herniated disc was the issue, these exercises negated the positive benefits of the press up.
The press-up can be extremely helpful for herniated discs, if the rest of the program isn’t focused on moving in the complete opposite direction.
Action steps:
Do you have press ups in your program? If so, look at your other exercises. Are there any forward bending or rounding exercises in there? What if you stopped doing those other exercises and solely focused on the press up? How does it feel?
