Posted: March 28, 2024 at 3:14 pm
Following up on Monday’s email, this one will have a little more info on thoracic mobility.
Have you ever tried to open a drawer that was stuck? Maybe in your kitchen, or possibly your dresser drawer where you keep all your favorite T-shirts?
The drawer’s main job is to slide forward and backward. However, if it gets stuck, simply going forward and backward over and over rarely gets it “unstuck.”
What do you do instead? You wiggle it a bit and try slightly different angles to get it “unstuck” – and once you have done that, then it usually slides forward and backward better.
With your thoracic spine, you certainly could work on exercises that attempt to lengthen it directly (make it less kyphotic). However, that is akin to pulling the stuck drawer forward and backward with no wiggling … it could work, but you could also end up trying for a long time and not making much progress.
An option I like to include is working on rotation of the thoracic spine – this is the equivalent of “wiggling” the stuck drawer.
You can work on your mobility from a lot of different body positions (standing, kneeling, sitting, quadruped, lying down), but generally the more upright you are the more your muscles are being tasked with stabilizing your body and it can be hard to get them to loosen up and access new mobility. So, a strategy I like is to prioritize ground-based mobility drills, at least as a starting point.
Lay on your left hand side with your knees pulled up to your chest. You must pull your knees up until your thighs are at least at a 90° angle to your torso, otherwise you’ll probably unknowingly move from your lower back (lumbar spine) instead of your upper back (thoracic spine) when you perform the exercise.
Use your left hand to hold your knees in that position and do not let them move (they must stay up to your chest, stay stuck together, and your left knee must stay on the ground).
From there, use your right hand to grab either your ribs or your sternum, then twist to your right as if trying to touch your right shoulder blade to the ground. When you do this give a light tug to your ribs with your hand, turn your head to the right, and do a soft, slow exhale. Once you have twisted as far as possible then pause for a moment before returning to the start.
Do 5-10 reps on that side of the body, then switch and match the other side.
Bonus tip: make sure your neck is comfortable while you do this. A lot of people are well served to have a pillow or some form of neck support under their head when performing this exercise.
-Tony
