This video is going to help stretch the upper back or thoracic spine. These stretches are great for anyone who sits a lot for work, has bad or hunched over position, or is looking down at their phone a lot. This is a routine I would recommend for most people in our society.
The first one is getting down all your hands and knees. Then push back to sit back on your heels, this will kind of lock up your low back and focus most of the movement in the upper back where we want it. Then take one arm and put it on the back of the neck and one arm on the ground. Look towards your elbow and then rotate your arm up towards the ceiling. This will give you more motion in the upper back and less in the low back, which is great. As you do this motion, you can do it fairly slow and take a breath at the end point, but don’t hold for longer than just a few seconds, your back will probably start to spasm. So don’t hold for too long and usually you will be just fine.
The second stretch is called an open book stretch. Get something like a foam roller or a pillow to be able to prop your leg on. So the starting position is on your side, the bottom leg is straight, the upper leg should rest on something, and then hands together pointing away from you. Then, while maintaining the lower body position, rotate the upper body with the top arm and try and relax into that “open” position. With this person, his knee comes off of the foam roller and indicates a tight hip. This will also get some stretching in that hip joint as well. This stretch is great at getting a lot of stretching in the right places and all at once. The reason for the foam roller is to stop from getting excess rotation in the low back or lumbar spine. Without the foam roller, you will get more motion in the low back than is needed and potentially overstretch that area. The goal is to try and get both shoulders to the ground and rest in that “open” position. This is a stretch that you can stay in this stretched position for even up to a few minutes. You are not likely to get the same back spasms like the other stretch shown.
These are great exercises to try especially after sitting at work all day. Try these out and get moving better today.
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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