A Move You Should Do MONDAY – 4-Point Windshield Wipers

Person exercising on mat in fitness center.

This week’s move is the 4-point windshield wiper, an excellent way to unlock your spine’s ability to move in the frontal plane. Let’s get started:

Get on all fours (your hands should be shoulder width apart and you knees hip width apart).
Find the neutral position of your lumbar spine by first arching your back then rounding your back. Neutral is the position in the middle.
Pick up your feet and move them side-to-side. Perform six slow repetitions and then six faster repetitions

Why does this matter?

You are designed to move in three planes of motion and one of them is the frontal plane. This is also an often neglected plane of motion. If you look in the mirror and one shoulder is higher than the other, the culprit may lie in imbalanced movement in the frontal plane.

Limited frontal plane motion may lie at the root cause of lumbar nerve root compression, rotator cuff impingement and even cervicogenic (stress-related) headaches.

So, give the 4-point windshield wiper a try and unlock your frontal plane.

Because nobody has time to be in pain.

Until next time…