63-Year-Old Woman Tracks a Month of Daily Dead Hangs

At 63, April Nading spent 30 days practicing a dead hang each day. Her original aim was to ease pressure on her spine after nearly a year of tingling in her leg and toes linked to a disc problem. A chiropractor had suggested hanging might help, so she tried it and later chose to continue.

By the end of the month, a minor ache around her shoulder and left elbow had disappeared, and a lower-back problem she noticed during some yoga positions seemed to have cleared. The tingling remained, but it became less intense and happened less often. Nading also reported better shoulder movement, along with greater strength in her upper back, core, arms and hands.

Her grip improved from needing gloves to holding the bar bare-handed for 90 seconds. She developed calluses and found moving across monkey bars easier, swinging between bars without stopping. The changes give active adults a picture of how one simple hanging practice affected mobility, strength and grip over a month. A pull-up bar was identified as an inexpensive option for creating a place to hang.