Stiff back? Stuck shoulders or hips? Look no further than the thoracic spine!

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.

• 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:

• If you are trying to improve your posture and can’t quite get there

• It hurts to try to sit or stand up straight

• It hurts when trying to do the some of the breathing exercises or walk for exercise