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Spine · Mid recovery

McGill Curl-Up

McGill Curl-Up: start and finish positions
Start and finish positions. Photographs by BoneArc.

How to do it

Lie on your back with one knee bent and the other leg straight, hands tucked under the small of your back. Lift your head and shoulders slightly off the surface without flattening your lower back, then lower back down.

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

Used in home programs for

  • Deconditioning / Functional Restoration
  • Lumbar Fusion (TLIF/PLIF/ALIF)
  • Lumbar Herniated Disc (with Radiculopathy)
  • Lumbar Laminectomy / Decompression
  • Lumbar Microdiscectomy
  • Lumbar Spondylolisthesis
  • Lumbar Spondylolysis (Pars Stress Injury)
  • Mechanical / Non-Specific Low Back Pain

Put this in a program

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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.