How to get your stiff back to move
Stiff back? Stuck shoulders or hips? Look no further than the thoracic spine!
The thoracic spine is the area of the torso that includes the rib cage and is often referred to as the mid back. The purpose of the thoracic spine is to protect your heart, lungs, stomach and liver. It also provides structural support to your torso. At the same time it also plays a big role in your movement.
Whether it is back, neck, shoulder or hip pain, most of my patients end up with a “flagged” thoracic spine in their movement exam. The patient reports feeling pain in their shoulder, hip or low back. They have also lost range of motion and strength there, but the loss of motion in the thoracic spine probably happened first.
Why the thoracic spine? In my experience, it seems to be that:
The neck, shoulders, and low back all directly connect to the thoracic spine.
Poor posture and breathing habits more often than not change the shape of the thoracic spine over time.
A flexed thoracic spine flexes the hips and tilts the shoulders up and forwards making the neck and low back over extend to stay upright.
Maintaining a posture outside of “neutral” takes extra work and drives imbalances in the movement system.
The thoracic spine can be stiff because the muscles do not engage properly or are weak. The thoracic spine can also be stiff because the poor posture, breathing habits and weakness was allowed to persist for so long that the joints get adhered and stuck.
Signs that a stiff thoracic spine is contributing to why you have pain are:
A gentle way to start to get a stiff thoracic spine to move is to use a pair of tennis balls against a wall as leverage. Practice this for 2 minutes, 1-2 times a day before working on your posture or breathing. If you experience neck, shoulder, mid/low back, hip pain while exercising, try this trick first and see if it helps!
