Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you the levator
scapulae stretch. so let's get started.
if you haven't already, make sure you click the subscribe button down there. so this
stretch is going to be a part of my office stretching series. so it's going
to be in real time. you can follow along with me, and if you're interested in
finding out all the other stretches from head to toe, make sure you click on the
link up there. so we're gonna just go with a 30 second stretch and a little 10
second rest in between. so I've got my timer ready to go, and I'll kind of just
explain it as we get started. so for the levator SCAP, which is this muscle here,
you're going to bring your arm up of the side you want to stretch. try and get
that elbow as high as you comfortably can, and then gently pull your head
towards the opposite knee. so you're just going to go down in this direction, and
that's stretching this muscle right through here. and the purpose of bringing
this side up is to hold that scapula, or that shoulder blade down so it's gonna
give you a better stretch. if you have a lot of pain there and you feel like
that's too much, you don't have to put that arm up. you can still stretch over
to the side, but if you can bring it up. it really kind of pushes it down so you
can get that good stretch, and if you can't, again if that feels like it's too
much, just bring that arm down. but maybe try and push it down a little bit or
maybe even sit on it if you can. that'll give you a little bit more of a stretch
there as well. but the best way to do it is kind of just resting that hand on the
back of the shoulder, and then pushing that elbow up as much as you can. but
make sure you're getting an angled stretch here. so it's not over towards
the side, it's not straight down. it's at that angle. and this is really important
because that levator SCAP muscle is the one that elevates our shoulder blades. so
when we're sitting at a desk working all day, a lot of times are our soldiers
start hunching up, and we overwork those muscles, and they get really tired and
fatigued. so this is a great stretch just to get it all nice and loosened.
relax everything, and start everything kind of over again. and it's also the
muscle connects down here to your scapula, but it goes all the way up into
the neck as well, so sometimes this can cause some shoulder pain. it can cause
neck pain, it can cause tension headaches sometimes, so again this is a really
important one just to get it all stretched out. so again bringing that arm
and that elbow up, and then just gently pulling down towards the opposite knee,
and a lot of times after you're doing it more, you'll you'll feel it just give a
little more stretch. you can pull just a little bit more, but you don't ever want
that stretch to be painful. you just want to feel some tension in there. so if
you're feeling some pain maybe back off a little bit up here, or just go ahead
and bring that on down and get that a little stretch in there as well. so the
the rest break in between if you want to kind of shake out the shoulders a little
bit, you can. if you want to kind of rub these out a little bit, you can do that
as well, but then just going right back into that stretch and gently pulling
over make sure you're not pulling your whole body over like that. I've had some
people try and do that. you want to keep your back upright and just get that pull
at your neck. so you're really getting that good stretch right through there. so
nice hold, getting that stretch, and then just looking straight down towards that
opposite knee.
and if you feel like you're getting more of like a pinchey pain, versus a stretchy
pain, make sure you stop. make sure you talk to your doctor or physical
therapist about it because if you're not getting a stretch with this, if you're
just getting pain, you might have something going on where you actually
don't need to be stretching this out. but if you don't have any injuries and again
if you're working at your desk all day long or if you're driving a lot, if you
drive a lot of the day, and you're kind of holding on that steering wheel and
those shoulders kind of inch up like that, this is a great stretch to kind of
work those muscles back out for you. so there you have it 30 seconds three times
on the each side for the levator SCAP stretch. so remember, this is a part of my
office stretching series or anywhere stretching series, and if you want to
check that out make sure you click up there, and if you want to find out how to
help my channel and support it, click on the link to find out how out there. and
don't forget to subscribe by clicking the link down there. remember be safe (get
it all stretched out), have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.