Upper back stiff and tight? 3 exercises to help you relieve the tightness!

Are you experiencing pain and stiffness in your upper back or in the area between your shoulder blades? Do you notice your back muscle along the spine feels like a tendinous rubber band? Check out these exercises to make you feel alive again!

1. Upper back rotation

- Begin on your hands and knees

- Place one hand behind your head with your elbow pointing downward

- Rotate your trunk to move your elbow towards your opposite knee

- Rotate back, raising your elbow toward the ceiling

2. Seated thoracic extension

- Begin sitting in a chair with the back ending at the level to be extended. You can use books on the seat of a chair to elevate your body to the appropriate level.

- Slowly and passively extend the back over the top of the rigid chair

3. Rib Distraction

- Sit in a chair

- Place your clasped hands behind your head and rotate your torso fully toward the right, then laterally flex to move your right elbow downward and backward to "open" your left ribcage

- Take the biggest possible breath to expand your ribcage, exhale and repeat a second inhalation/ exhalation.

- While staying rotated, lift your elbow back up to horizontal then attempt to rotate your torso further toward the right.

- Laterally flex to move your right elbow downward and backward. Repeat a second and third set of stretch-breathe-breathe-stretch cycles.

- Repeat on the other side