Thoracic Spine Mobility

Hey all, quick post today:

I've been talking about thoracic mobility pretty extensively lately. Like I mentioned in my Low Back Pain post, the lumbar spine has approximately 13 degrees of range of motion (ROM). The thoracic spine; however, has almost 70 degrees of ROM. The t-spine has a much larger capacity to rotate, yet people still focus on twisting through the lumbar spine. So, how do we increase ROM at the t-spine?

First off we need to loosen up the musculature (Rhomboids, traps, etc.)around it with the use of a foam roller, medicine ball, etc.:


Make sure you cross your arms together to get the shoulder blades out of the way, and make sure not to roll on the lower back.

Next we can perform quadruped (four point stance) extension-rotations:


Keep your core tight, reach your elbow down to the opposite knee, and then extend as far as you can up towards the ceiling. You should feel this near your shoulder blades, and NOT the lower back. Keeping your abs braced will ensure that you get the mobility from your upper back and not the lower back.

I did not take these videos - I got them from the user NutrexSolutions through youtube. I hope there are no copyright infringement issues!

Train Hard,

Jason