In this video, we have five easy upper body rotation exercises
to try out. The body likes to move and if it
doesn't, you might find that you get a little bit
stiff and inflexible in different places. An example
is if you're sitting for a long time during the day the upper back might just
get a little bit stiff and inflexible and this has got the
potential to cause problems in the upper back itself
but even in the shoulders and the neck. It's worthwhile maintaining this
flexibility to try and prevent any aches and pains.
Keep watching to find out how to improve upper body flexibility. My name's Claire.
I'm a Physiotherapist from Physiofit Health. Subscribe to our channel if you
want to get updated on when we publish our videos. Here are
the five upper back rotation exercises.
Number one, this one is done lying on your side so your knees are
slightly bent. You're checking your hips and your shoulders are facing forward,
your arms are out in front of you at about 90 degrees.
That's your start position, you're going to take that upper arm
and draw it up so that your fingertips point
up towards the ceiling. Now at this point you want the arm
and the upper body to move at the same time. You've got an imaginary light on
your chest that you are then trying to shine all
the way up towards the ceiling so you keep moving that arm
behind you. Rotate that upper body, you're checking
whilst you'll do this that your hips stay still. You want the hips facing
forward at all times, it's just the upper body that is now
rotating and facing up to the ceiling. It's unlikely when you
do this that you'll get the the hand and the arm touching the floor.
If you do find that it is touching the floor, you may be
just moving at the shoulder, moving that arm back rather than moving the shoulder
and the upper body at the same time. Return to your start position
and then you're repeating 10 or 20 times and then obviously repeating on the
other side. Number two, this one is done only if your
knees, hips and ankles are comfortable in
this curled up position so you can start in
four-point kneeling. You're going to get your hips going back
towards your heels and you're going to bring your elbows
and arms really close into the body so you're curled up into
a ball. You're going to place your right hand on the side of the head with the
elbow out to the side. You're going to keep your left forearm
on the floor and then as you're breathing out,
you're trying to point your elbow and shoulder all the way up to the ceiling
and then you're breathing in as you ease off. Repeat
five or six times on that side. You can try and use that
left arm that's on the floor just as a leverage just to try and push around into
a really nice rotation and then you can repeat on the other side.
This one's really good because it will fix the lower back to a certain extent and
you know that you're really targeting in and around that upper back. Number
three, this one's done in four-point kneeling.
So you want your hips over your knees, your shoulders are over your hands. Don't
forget about that head just keep the chin tucked in and you're
looking down in between your hands and keep that head up so you want a nice
long line from the head, neck and then upper back. Take your right
hand, you're going to thread the needle through
your left arm and leg. You're going to lower that right shoulder down to the
floor, you're going to reach your hands and
fingers as far away from you as you can do and then you're breathing in as you
return that right hand underneath the shoulder and then repeat
on the left side. Breathing out, thread the needle through lowering that
left shoulder, reach those left hands and arm as far away
from you as you can and then you're breathing in as you
return repeating five or six times on each side. Number four, this rotation
can be done in sitting so in a chair ideally chair
with no wheels so that you have a little bit
of security. I'd suggest shuffling to the edge of the
chair and make sure your feet are flat on the floor
and then you're going to rotate the upper body around to the
left and you're going to hold on to something for leverage.
Now it really depends on the chair that you've got available you can pop
your right hand on your left thigh that can help push you around
and you can hold on to the back of the chair if
if there is a back of the chair to help pull you around. This leverage
of using something else just to help pull around
will give you a stronger stretch just means that you can
improve that rotation. Repeat five or six times to one side and then five or six
times to the other. Again we've talked about
fixing the lower back in one of the other rotations we've described
so sitting in the chair it just helps fix the hips to a certain extent and
means that you're really focusing more on that upper back.
Number five, this one's done in standing and using your imagination, you've got a
bow and arrow in your hand. So you're standing up hips are facing
forward, shoulders are facing forward, your arms
start at 90 degrees straight out in front of you.
Pretending you're holding a bow and arrow, keep the left arm straight
and then you're going to draw that right arm back
and you're aiming to get that right hand and arm pointing
behind you and you're rotating that upper body around to the right as you do
so. Remember that imaginary light that's
on your chest, starts by facing forward but then
you're going to shine that light over to the right
as you draw that right hand and arm back behind you.
Return to the start position, repeat your five or six times and then you can
repeat on the other side. These five examples that we've gone
through we'd suggest as dynamic stretches which is to say
that you want to keep moving throughout the whole of the
stretch that's why the repetition numbers
increase. If you think that something is a little bit stiff and doesn't really
move, you want to do a lot of repetitions to
try and help improve that range of movement.
You can of course try the static stretch if you want to.
You're going to hold it for 20 seconds if you do so
and that just gives the body and the muscles soft tissue just a little bit of
time to get used to that range of movement. Try one or all of
these suggestions if you wish. It can be easier if you link the
exercise to a daily activity and then that means that you
know that you'll do it on a daily basis. An example would be brushing your teeth
and brush your teeth and then perhaps do the standing bow and arrow stretch. You
do need to give it some time, a good four to six weeks that's your start
before you'll really see a change in any of the flexibility or the range of
movement. Subscribe to our channel so you get notified when we publish our videos
and we'll see you soon!