Home › Exercise library › Spine

Spine · Mid recovery

Dead Bug

Dead Bug: start and finish positions
Start and finish positions. Photographs by BoneArc.

How to do it

Lie on your back with your arms reaching toward the ceiling and knees bent to 90 degrees. Lower one arm overhead and the opposite leg toward the floor while keeping your lower back pressed down, then return and switch sides.

Body region
Spine
Position
Supine
Equipment
No equipment
Recovery phase
Mid recovery
Purpose
Core Stability

Used in home programs for

  • Lumbar Facet (Zygapophyseal) Syndrome
  • Lumbar Herniated Disc (with Radiculopathy)
  • Lumbar Radiculopathy (Sciatica)
  • Lumbar Spondylolisthesis
  • Lumbar Spondylolysis (Pars Stress Injury)
  • Post-Laminectomy Syndrome (Failed Back Surgery — Monitored)

Put this in a program

Clinicians build a printed or phone-delivered home exercise program from 831 photographed exercises. No account to build or print.

Add Dead Bug to a program Open the builder

Related exercises

This page describes one exercise as it appears in the BoneArc library so a clinician can decide whether it belongs in a patient's program. It is not a prescription. Follow the plan your own clinician gave you.