This video, I'm going to show you how to self-release your
upper back for instant pain relief. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in St.
Joseph, Michigan. If you're dealing with a tight, locked
up, painful spot in the upper or middle back and need a self
release or mobilization, this is a video that you're not
going to want to miss. I'm going to go over different
exercises that are really going to help open up the upper back
and give quick relief, even in as little as 30 seconds. As a
side note, these are not chiropractic adjustments. They
don't serve to replace chiropractic adjustments.
They're simply stretching exercises that may end in a
satisfying pop, crack, or release. So, let's get started
and get the upper back feeling better. Right now. So, here is
an upper back opener that you can do in bed first thing in
the morning or before you go to bed at night. I'm going to lay
flat on my back just like this. Let's take our hands, place
them behind our head for a little bit of support. What I'm
gonna do is start off by just putting my shoulders and head
right off the edge of the bed. We want to focus on just
letting gravity take our body weight. So, it's just taking my
head and shoulders and arms downwards like The more that
you go down, the more that you're going to feel a stretch
over the area where your upper back is placed over the bed.
So, you want to go down as far as you're able to go just
letting gravity take it. From there, what I do is wing my
elbows down just a little bit and then push down with my
head. This will create a passive stretch into the upper
back and if it is locked up, you may feel it go pop, click,
or crack. Again, that is just gases being released from the
joints. You want to hold this about five seconds you're just
going to relax take a breather and then you're going to repeat
so just press down a little bit more with this next repetition
to open up the back just a little bit more but you can do
this for about three to 5 repetitions from there I just
slide down a little bit and then repeat pretty much all the
way from the upper back to the middle back with this one too
the further that you go down the more that you're going to
be able to go downwards like this so only go to your comfort
level if you do find that one particular spot is the spot
that you're having a lot of achiness or pain, stop right
over that spot and then at this point, what we're going to do
is wing the elbows down like this. We're going to push down
with the head to create that passive traction and hopefully,
this will get it to release. If it doesn't, you can put a
little bit more passive stretch in there by just quickly
winging the elbows down just a little bit and I don't know if
you heard it over the microphone but I got a very
good release into my upper back right there but this is a good
way to really just pinpoint areas with the bed by sliding
up and downwards like this and just focusing on the spots that
need it the most. So, here is a great upper back opener that
you can do at the edge of a bed. You can also use the
armrest of a couch, a desk, or a chair. It just needs to be
flat and elevated. We're also going to start off on our
knees. So, make sure to put a pillow or towel underneath them
for extra comfort. Let's go right up to that flat elevated
surface. I'm going to bend the arm like this and place the
backside of my arms flat on that elevated surface. Let's
press down a little bit too just to create a stable anchor
point. My hand they're going to go on my upper back right
across the shoulders just like this. From here, I'm going to
tuck my chin towards my chest. The movement is very easy. I'm
just going to simply lower my body weight. Kinda like taking
my butt down towards my heels. Also, during this, I'm going to
let my chest go towards the edge of that flat elevated
surface as much as we can. The more that you go down, the more
that you're going to feel a good stretch happening into the
upper back that goes all the way down to the middle and
lower back. So, it usually feels really and if there is a
segment that's locked up, this will help open it up through
kind of a decompression traction pull but go down as
far as you're able to go. Once you feel that comfortable
stretch, let's hold this for 20 seconds. Do nice, slow,
controlled breathing also. Let that tension out. The more you
relax, the more results that you're gonna get with this.
From there, I'm just going to relax, come back up, take a
breather, and then repeat this up to five times. With each
repetition, go down just a little bit more. Stretch into
it, challenge those muscles to open. Up those joints and if it
is locked up, you might get a sudden pop crack or self
release. With this one too, what I'm going to do is then
take it to the next level by just angling my body out a
little bit towards one side. So, in this case, I'm going a
little bit towards my right. I'm going to repeat this. What
you're going to notice is it opens the back up just a little
bit differently. So, experiment with different angles. Go all
the way towards the right and then go all the way towards the
left. If you feel that one certain angle, one certain spot
like right here for me, hits it just a little bit more, throw
more repetitions in, target the spots that need it the most.
So, here's an upper back self-release exercise that you
can pretty much do anywhere. The only thing that we need is
a corner of a wall or a door. I'm going to show two parts to
this because they're going to target two different locations.
The first part, we're going to focus on a very pesky spot that
a lot of people get pain which is right here at the base of
the neck into the upper back across the shoulders. This is
known as an upper trapezius stretch. Very easy to do. When
I go to do is take one arm, bend it at 90 degrees, and then
slide it across my lower back as much as I can. You'll feel
this muscle right up here start to relax. That's the trapezius
muscle. From there, I'm going to take my hand, place it on
the side right here, and then I'm just going to take my ear
towards the shoulder, the other side shoulder. When you do
this, you'll really feel it open up into the neck right
here and a lot of times you'll get a sudden pop, crack, or
release into the neck or into the upper back. It usually
feels really good. Again, with this one, don't try to sit. You
want to hold this one for about 15 to 20 seconds. You're just
going to relax and then on the next repetition, drive the arm
over a little bit more and then take the ear down towards the
shoulder even more. Get a better stretch each time. And I
would do this on both sides to keep them in balance. To focus
a little bit more down into the upper back and middle backs,
let's go right up here and do what I like to call the Y
stretch. So, I'm going to put my arms up just like this to
the point where I can then lean into it like this. So, I'm
putting my Y or my arms into a Y. My feet go together and then
I'm just using my body weight to lean forward towards the
corner of that wall. This feels really good. You'll feel the
stretch into the chest but you'll also feel the shoulder
blades starting to pinch and it really opens up the back. You
may feel again a sudden pop or release. Hold this for about 20
seconds, relax, and then try to repeat this three to five
times. You can also try different variations. So,
instead of going towards the Y, go towards what I like to call
the field goal and then do the same thing. You'll notice that
it just open up the back just a little bit differently. From
there, you can also go into a W but go through all three
motions. I don't know if you just heard it over the
microphone but I got a pretty good release right there and I
just try to do all three motions, three to five
repetitions, each repetition stretch a little bit more into
it and hopefully that gets the upper back to self release. So,
here's what is known as an upper back corkscrew stretch
and it's a very good upper back opener because we can do a
little bit of rotation in there to get those joints moving.
This one is done at the edge of the bed but you can also do
this one on the floor. What I'm going to do is start with one
leg straight. Usually the leg is closest towards the edge of
the bed and then the other side, what I'm gonna do is bend
the knee and then keep the foot flat. I'm just going to press
into the side of my calf right here with that foot and press
down for stable anchor point. Let's take the hand that's
closest towards the edge of the bed, grab onto the edge just
for a little bit more support. What I'm going to do from there is
bend the other side's arms. So, in this case, I'm gonna take my
right elbow and I weigh place it on the inside of my right
knee from there I'm going to press into it already you
should feel a very good amount of stretch into the upper back
a very good rotation because we're going towards the left
from here what I'm going to do is press into my knee and then
just turn my upper body to look away from me so kinda like
rotating a little bit towards my left the more that you turn
like this the more it's going to open up the back and you
might get a sudden pop crack or self release don't to force
this one just go towards a comfortable stretch if it is
going to go it will go but you want to hold this stretch for
about 20 seconds and it really feels good and then from there
I just relax take a breather and then I repeat this up to
five times with each repetition you can stretch into it just a
little bit more again don't try to force anything and then when
you're done on one side always switch to the other to keep
them both in balance my personal favorite way to self
release the upper back is with an extension exercise that you
can do on the floor. The easiest way to do this exercise
is with a foam roller. I know a lot of people don't have foam
rollers so I want to give different options.
Surprisingly, using an extra large athletic or sports cup
really contours to the shape of the back and works very well.
You can also use a peanut tool that is I took two tennis
balls, wrapped them in a sock, twisted it, and tied it. That
way, you can put the spine directly in between the two
balls right here and glide very easily during this exercise but
I'd like to keep things simple. I'm going to be using my trusty
can of beef barley soup and I'm also going to be using a towel
over the can of soup or the sports cup. The other two, you
don't need a towel. So, for demonstrated purposes, I will
be using my can of soup. So, if you are using the soup can,
just place it in the middle of a large bath towel just like
this and then roll it up and you kinda have a homemade foam
roller. From there, I'm just going to position it right on
the upper back. So, I just go like this and it's pretty much
sent right over the spine itself. What I can do from
there is just take my hands, place them on the back of the
head just like this and then just simply use my legs to roll
up and down from the middle to upper back. We don't want to do
this one on the lower back because that can cause
irritation. But just roll up and down, just allowing gravity
to take your shoulders, elbows, and head down just like this
and with this rolling motion, you might get a sudden pop
crack or self release but you can do this one nice and slow
up and down for about five to 10 complete repetitions. If you
do use the athletic cup, you probably won't be able to do
this certain step but you should be able to do the
others. So, let's say that you have one spot that just will
not release. It's really tight, achy, and painful. It needs a
little bit more tension. Let's stop right over that spot. From
there, what I'm going to do is just allow gravity to take my
head, my shoulders, and elbows down towards the floor as much
as we can. Really put the back into a backwards extension just
like this and then from there, I'm going to plant my feet on
the floor and then lift my butt up. Kinda like creating a
bridge-like exercise. This time, what's going to happen is
that your upper body weight is going to drive down into the
can into the floor and it really intensifies the stretch.
It feels really, really good for me and if that joint is
locked up, this might get it to self release but you can hold
this position for 15 to 20 seconds. If it feels good, hold
it for longer. You can hold it upwards towards a minute but
when you need a breather, just lower your butt down like this
and then repeat it about three to five times from there you
can just switch over different spots as needed if it still
feels like it does not want to release what we can do from
there is incorporate a little bit more dynamic movement so
this time around what I'm going to do is take my arms off like
this create like a field goal position with my arms let my
head go down towards the floor and then just wing the elbows
down towards the floor what this will do is it stretches
the chest opens the pack up just a little bit differently
and might get it to finally self release or pop but
challenge yourself to bring the elbows down as much as you can.
You can hold the stretch for 15 to 20 seconds, relax, and then
repeat. You can also do what are known as floor angels. So,
go down all the way right here. Lower the hands down towards or
I should say the back side are going to be towards the floor
and then from there, I'm going to wing my elbows down as much
as I can and then just raise my arms overhead just like this.
You'll feel the again, the muscles just get hit a little
bit differently and that might just help. If you feel like
it's still needs a little bit more tension, you can put a
little bit more of a passive stretch in there. So, what I'm
going to do is just allow my head and my shoulders to go all
the way down towards the floor. I'm going to straighten my arms
out like this straight at the elbow. Hands are going to
overlap and then, I'm going to lower my hands down towards the
floor as much as I can. The more that you lower this down,
the more that you're going to feel that spot over the can in
the upper back really start to open. Only go to your comfort
level but one we've had a very deep but comfortable stretch.
What I'm going to do from there is just wing my arms down just a
little bit like this. This will offer a little bit more passive
stretch into the upper back and you might get it to
self-release. I don't know if you just heard it on the
microphone right there but I did get a little bit of a
release but just go very comfortably. Don't try to force
anything. If it's going to go, it will go but you can do this
one right here for about five repetitions. Just switch over
different spots as needed and I do hope that that one right
there opens up the back and gives you a lot of instant pain
relief. If the exercise is helped, please support the
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please leave them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I
can. Thanks for watching!