Exercise

Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend (Pancake stretch)

Physiotherapist Charissa Fermelis shares a stretch for your hips, groin and legs.

Written by Charissa Fermelis

How to

  1. Sit on the floor with your legs extended out to the sides. Keep a slight bend in the knees to release some tension off the back of your legs and allow you to sit up tall.
  2. Place your fingertips on the floor in front of your knees, slide your hands along the floor beside your legs and allow your chest to lie forwards onto the floor.
  3. Take hold of your feet if you can reach them. Aim for your body to be flat like a pancake.

Tips

Few bodies are made perfectly symmetrical, so differences between left and right are expected. Most people prefer to use one side of the body over the other for various activities – for example, you choose to kick a football with your right foot or play golf left handed – so through your stretching practice you will become more aware of these asymmetries within your own body.

Stretch out your whole body with the be. Stretching Guide.

Written by Charissa Fermelis

Charissa Fermelis is a physiotherapist, Pilates practitioner and Director of Grounded Movement in Melbourne.

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