In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix rhomboid
pain for good. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to focus on
fixing a tight and achy rhomboid muscle, a big
instigator of upper back and shoulder blade pain. When this
muscle becomes irritated and strained, you tend to get a lot
of pain below the neck throughout the upper back and
then off to the sides into the shoulder blades. It usually
comes about from tightness and weakness in the rhomboid
muscle. So, to make this easy, I'm going to break this video
up into two parts. In the first part, we're going to focus on
tackling tightness by lengthening the muscle through
great stretching exercises. In the second part, we're going to
strengthen the muscle, build more stability, improve
posture, take tension and stress off the muscle to
hopefully get long-lasting pain relief. As a bonus, all of
these exercises can be done at home. They require no equipment
and you may find get quick rhomboid pain relief even in as
little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started and fix that
rhomboid pain for good right now. In this part, we're going
to focus on getting quick rhomboid muscle pain relief by
lengthening the muscle that is reducing tension and strain on
it and I'm going to do a very easy exercise that you can
pretty much do anywhere. All we need is a door frame. So, it's
a two-part movement. In the first part, what I'm going to
do is kind of put my feet close to the door frame right here.
Take one arm that is on the other side of the door frame,
grab right into it for a stable anchor point. Just really hook
your finger into it. I'm going to put my feet together and
then I'm going to use my body weight to lean away from that
door frame. I want to keep leaning away until I start to
feel a very good stretch right off to the side right here of
those shoulder blades. What I'm going to do from there is take
my other hand, put it below this arm right here, and then
rotate my body away from the door frame. Go as far as you
can. So, we're leaning and then rotating away. You'll start to
feel a deep stretch into that rhomboid muscle across that
shoulder blade. It feels really good. I try to hold this one
for about 20 to 30 seconds. Just do nice, low-controlled
breathing also. Let the tension out and from there, you're just
going to relax. On the next repetition, try to build into
it even more. Try to do this for two to three repetitions on
both sides. From there, we're going to take it to the next
level by hitting the rhomboids and the shoulder blades just a
little bit differently. So, face the door frame, put your
toes right up against it. I'm going to crisscross my arms
like this where my thumbs going to be pointing down and I'm
going to grip right into that door frame. From here, I'm
going to place my hands roughly about chest level. Tuck your
chin towards your chest and the movement from here is easy.
We're going to just allow our body weight to go backward like
this. Kinda like taking my butt away and down from the floor.
Keep going down until you start to feel a very good stretch in
between the shoulder blades. I really feel that it feels
really really good. I try to hold this one right here for
twenty 30 seconds, again trying to do nice slow control
breathing. From there, I'm just going to relax on the next
repetition I try to stretch into it even more you can
repeat this three times you can also experiment with different
placements of your hands so put them more towards your head
level and then repeat this you're going to notice that it
hits the muscles just a little bit differently so go all the
way up go all the way down if you feel like one certain
position just hits that spot a little bit better at that point
throw more repetitions in. So, here's a great upper back and
shoulder blade opener that you can do at the edge of a bed or
a chair depending on your height. We're going to start
off on our knees. So, make sure to put a pillow or towel
underneath them for extra comfort. I'm going to go over
four different dynamic movements that are going to
effectively target the rhomboid and just hit it at different
positions so you'll be able to lengthen that muscle much more
efficiently than just a one-dimensional static stretch.
So, what I'm going to do is bend my arms, put the backside
of my arms flat on that surface. My hands are going to
go right on my shoulders just like this. Let's tuck our chin
towards our chest. The first movement, I'm going to do a
decompression traction exercise. This is a pulling
motion to help open up the upper back and take pressure
off the muscles and the spine. So, I'm just going to lower my
whole body kind of like taking my butt down towards my heels.
The more that we do this, the more that you're going to feel
a great stretch in the upper back in between the shoulder
blade go down as far as you can once you hit a deep but
comfortable stretch you want to hold this one for 20 to 30
seconds. Just do nice slow control breathing also, let that
tension out. From here, we're going to take it to the next
level by putting in a cat cow movement so this one I'm going
to kind of like suck my stomach upwards like this, tighten my
core and then round my upper back towards the ceiling. You'll
feel the muscles get hit just a little bit differently. I like
to hold this one right here for about three to 5 seconds then
I'm going to go in reverse allowing my stomach to relax go
down towards the floor and also let my chest go towards the
edge of that chair or the bed. When you do this, you'll just
notice that again the muscles get hit a little bit
differently. Three to five second hold and then I want to
do a nice fluid motion of this right here for about 3 to 5
complete repetitions. From there, we're going to focus on
thoracic rotation to build mobility so I'm going to keep
one arm flat on here but the other one is going to raise up
and I'm going to rotate my body, my whole back, arm, and
head upward towards the ceiling. Go up as far as you
can. You're really going to feel the shoulder blade muscles
including that rhomboid start to fire. Hold this one for
about 5 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax and
then repeat it on the other side. The last movement we're
going to do is called threading the needle. It's also a
rotational movement that hits the muscles just a little bit
differently. So, take one arm off, bend the elbow roughly at
ninety and then turn your body in the opposite direction. So,
my right arm is reaching all the way towards my left. Once
you feel a deep stretch, hold this one for 5 seconds. Come
back, relax, and then repeat it on the other side but try to do
this whole complete cycle for about three to five repetitions
and with each repetition, try to build into it just a little
bit more. If you want to get rid of rhomboid muscle pain for
good, you have to strengthen everything in and around the
shoulder blades. This will help build stability, improve
posture taking tension, and stress off the rhomboids. So,
what I'm going to do is start off with a very easy exercise.
This is known as a scapular push up. It's kind of like a
push up but we're just going to move through our shoulder
blades. So, I'm going to start off on a floor just like this.
My forearms are going to support my upper body weight. I
put my hands together like this. Have my forearms in a V
shape. You might want to put a towel or pillow underneath your
arms too for extra comfort. So, I'm going to show the beginner
position and then show a little bit more challenging one after
that. So, just kind of bend your knees, put your body up
like this like you're going to do a push up but what I'm going
to do is pinch my shoulder blades and allow my chest to go
down towards the floor. Try to allow the chest to go down as
much as you can really pinching those shoulder blades to
activate those muscles. When you feel that, try to hold this
one right here for about 5 seconds. Now, we're going to do
the opposite. We're going to lift up on the chest and also
the upper back towards the ceiling. This will open up the
blades this time around hitting the muscles just a little bit
differently. Again, try to hold this one for about 5 seconds.
From there, you're just going to relax, take a breather, and
try to do this one right here if you're able to for about 10
repetitions and with each repetition, really try to build
into it and move through those shoulder blades. If you want to
make this one more challenging, just go into a push up
position. You'll have a lot more muscles at that point
starting to fire including the core muscles and it's just a
little bit more challenging. If you want to take this to the
next level, we can do what is known as a dolphin press. This
one really helps build stability into the shoulder
blades and the shoulders. So, what I'm going to do is get
into this position right here. Kind of like a plank, and just
kind of walk my legs like this. Again, I'm supporting my body
weight on my forearms. Let's tuck our chin towards our
chest. The movement is pretty easy. What I'm trying to do is
drop my head towards the floor and lift my butt up towards the
ceiling at the same time. When you do this, you'll feel a ton
of muscles fire across the upper back, shoulder blades,
and off to the side. I try to hold this one for about 5
seconds. I'm just going to relax and then I'm going to
repeat this one if I'm able to for about 10 to 15 repetitions.
Again, with each repetition, try to build into it just a
little bit more. My muscles are really firing on this one but
if you feel like you have a little bit more energy, just
throw in another set or two. Here's a rhomboid muscle
strengthening exercise that you can do throughout the day.
It's not only good for getting quick pain relief but it will
also help upper back posture. We just need a smooth wall or a
door. I'm going to put my whole backside flush against it. My
feet are going to be angled out in front of me. Let's have our
legs roughly hip width apart. Put all of your body weight on
your heels during this exercise. So, what I'm going to
do is just squat down a little bit until I feel my leg muscles
engage and also my glutes. I'm also going to try to tighten my
core just a little it. The first movement is known as the
shoulder blade lift off. I'm going to bend my elbows at 90
degrees, put them off to my side, press them into the door.
The movement is pressing with our arm strength into the door
to lift our body forward. So, we're not trying to round our
back with this one. When you do this, lift your chest forward,
pinch your shoulder blades in the back. You'll feel a ton
fire including into the chest muscles in between the shoulder
blades. I try to hold this one comfortably for about 5
seconds. From there, I'm just going to relax, take a
breather. I try to repeat this one up to 10 times and with
each repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more.
Always challenge those muscles. What we can do to take this one
to the next level is a postural exercise called a wall angel.
Really helps open up a tight chest. So, I'm going to get
back into my original position right here. I'm going to bend
my elbows at 90 degrees. Take them straight back towards the
wall. From there, I'm going to turn my hands up towards the
ceiling. If you have a lot of chest tightness, you'll
probably find that you can't get your elbows all the way
back. Just wing them back as much as you can during this
exercise and hopefully through repetition, you'll gain more
flexibility but you're just going to wing your elbows back
as much as you can until you feel the chest activate and
you're really trying to pinch those shoulder blades in the
back. You're going to raise your hands up slowly towards
the ceiling. When you can't go any further, hold this right
here for a couple seconds. From there, you're going to slowly
come back down. From there, you can take a breather. On the
next repetition, try to build into it more. Wing those elbows
back, go up, and hold that for a couple seconds. You can do
this for 10 to 15 repetitions. Here's a strengthening exercise
that you can do right in bed. I call this one the shoulder
blade pump. It's going to focus on dynamic movements to really
target the rhomboid and other muscles that help support the
upper back and shoulder blades. Start off lying on your stomach
right at the edge of a bed. What I'm going to do is a head
retraction. That is just taking the back of my head upward
towards the ceiling. So, I'm not trying to round it backward
or forward like this. You should feel a gentle activation
of the neck muscles going into the upper back. From there,
what I'm going to do is scoop forward until my shoulders are
off the edge of that bed. Have your arms straight off to your
side, palms up towards the ceiling. We're going to do a
pumping motion. So, we're going to just keep our arms straight
and then pump our hands upwards towards the ceiling as much as
you can. You want to hold this for about a then you're just
going to relax and then you're going to repeat this pumping
motion right here for about five to 10 repetitions really
focusing on feeling those muscles engage in the upper
back from there we're going to attack it at a different angle
so go right off to your side like this roughly about
45degrees this time around the palms are going to be down
towards the floor and again I'm going to repeat this process
you'll notice that the muscles just get it a little bit
differently from there I'm going to go right in front of
me arms angled off to my side and then I'm going to repeat
this one from there I'm going to go into what is known as an
angel so I'm going to bend my elbows roughly at 90 degrees
wing my elbows up towards the ceiling as much as we can and
then strain our arms out in front of us hold this position
right here for about a second or two and then slowly come
back and try to do this one right here for about five
repetitions from there just go in reverse and repeat you can
do this whole cycle right here for 3 to 5 complete
repetitions. If the exercises helped, please support the channel by
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