Floor Angels Exercise: How to Do It Step by Step

Most people don’t realise how stiff and restricted their upper body has become until they try this exercise.

If your shoulders feel rounded, your upper back feels tight, or your neck constantly feels like it’s carrying tension… this exercise is often a game changer.

Simple movement. Big difference.

Don’t worry if this feels surprisingly difficult at first.

A lot of people discover they can’t comfortably get their arms close to the floor at first—and that’s completely normal.

HOW TO DO FLOOR ANGELS

1. Lie on your back with knees bent
2. Keep your head relaxed
3. Bring your arms out to the side like goalposts
4. Slowly slide your arms overhead
5. Then slowly return your arms to the starting position

Move in a slow, controlled way throughout.

The goal is not to force your arms flat to the floor.

It’s about improving movement and control gradually over time.

WHAT YOU SHOULD FEEL

• Stretching across the chest or front of the shoulders
• Muscles working around the shoulder blades
• Mild stiffness or pulling through the upper back

It should feel like movement and opening—not strain.

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT FEEL

• Sharp pinching pain in the shoulders (LINK SHOULDER PAIN PAGE)
• Numbness or tingling into the arms (LINK PINCHED NECK NERVE PAGE)
• Excessive strain in the neck (LINK MECHANICAL NECK PAIN PAGE)

If you do, reduce the range slightly and slow things down.

WHY I USE THIS EXERCISE SO OFTEN IN CLINIC

This is one of those exercises that quietly exposes how much stiffness people are carrying through their upper body.

In clinic, I’ll often give this to people who:

• Sit at desks all day
• Feel constantly tight between the shoulder blades
• Carry stress in their neck and shoulders

It really isolates the area between the shoulder blade, which is difficult to mobilise using other exercises.

WHEN THIS EXERCISE TENDS TO HELP MOST

I commonly use floor angels for:

A STORY FROM CLINIC

I remember a patient called Jamie. He worked long hours at a desk and during our first consultation, he said:

“I feel like my shoulders are permanently being dragged forwards.”

His neck constantly felt tight, especially by the end of the day.

When he first tried floor angels, he could barely move his arms overhead without his ribs flaring and his shoulders lifting.

Within a few weeks of doing these consistently, he said something interesting:

“I feel taller.”

Not because his posture had magically become perfect overnight—but because his body no longer felt so compressed and restricted.

This translated into less pain and stiffness in his upper back and shoulders.

HOW MANY SHOULD YOU DO?

Start with:

• 8–12 slow repetitions
• 1–2 times per day

You do not need to hammer this exercise.

Slow, consistent reps done well are far more effective than rushing through loads of them.

Little improvements repeated regularly tend to create the biggest long-term changes.

COMMON MISTAKES I SEE ALL THE TIME

Try not to:

• Force your arms flat to the floor
• Arch your lower back excessively
• Rush the movement
• Shrug your shoulders up towards your ears

This exercise works best when it looks controlled and relaxed—not aggressive.

HOW THIS FITS INTO YOUR RECOVERY

If you haven’t started any spinal rehab yet, this is a great exercise to begin with. You can also combine it with exercises that you are already doing.

With my patients, I tend to combine The Floor Angel with:

1. Brügger’s Relief Position (LINK)
2. Cervical Range of Motion (LINK)
3. Chin Tuck Head Lift (LINK)

Build in each exercise steadily and patiently. 

5–10 minutes of focused spinal work per day is often enough to create huge improvements.

This exercise helps with: