Learn how to get better thoracic spine rotation to help alleviate neck, shoulder or lower back pain. Learn to control your shoulder and ribcage movements better.
O.K. we’re going to work on an exercise to rotation
- Starting on your side with the knees bent and the heels, hips, shoulders and ears in line
- Position your arms straight in front of you
- We’re going to work with breath trying to help rotation of the trunk.
- Breathing in, take your arm away (move it forward)
- Breathing out, bringing the shoulder blades back onto the rib cage
- Breathing in, move your arm up to point at the ceiling – only the shoulder moves
- Breathe out, bring the shoulder back down.
Work on rotation
- Breathing in, rotate the trunk back so the shoulder falls, the head can fall
- As you breathe out, your rib cage comes back and around as your arm moves back in front of you
- Breathe in, lengthen the arm away from you
- Breathe out, come back with the shoulder,
- Breathe in, move the arm up to 90 degrees
- Breathe out, the shoulder blade comes back down on the rib cage – not up towards your neck
- Breathe in, rotate through the rib cage, keep the pelvis neutral, get a nice stretch.
You can even maintain there for a stretch – breathing in again, stretching. Then on the breath out, using your ribs to come back and bringing your shoulder back down to neutral.
Repeat 10 to 20 times to work on better thoracic spine rotation.