In this video I'm going to show you how to fix rounded back posture for instant relief. Stay tuned!
Hey everyone, Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video I'm going to
go over multiple stretching exercises that are going to target tight, achy, stiff muscles
that might be causing a rounded or hunched back appearance in the upper back. All these exercises
just hit the area a little bit differently so go through all of them and take what is most
effective at getting rid of that rounded back posture. As a bonus, all of these exercises can
be done at home possibly at work and may give you quick relief, even in as little as 30 seconds,
and they do not require any special equipment. So let's get started and get rid of that rounded back
posture right now! A major cause of a rounded or hunchback appearance is because of forward leaning
posture. Think using computers, driving, everything in the modern world. Here is an easy three-part
exercise that's going to build more extension, or backwards movement, into the back to hopefully
counterbalance that. We can use a couple items for this one. If you have a foam roller that
works great, and you might be surprised, but a large -- I'm going to be using an extra large athletic or
sports cup, because the contour of the shape really is able to hit in between the spine extremely well.
It's actually shaped like a very popular back stretcher that rhymes with 'track mod' but for our
purposes since I want to show a way to use this exercise without any special equipment, I'm going
to be using a tasty can of beef barley soup. We'll also need a large rolled up bath towel for this.
So let's start off by getting into position. You're going to want to do this one on the floor. If we're
using a can of soup, we're going to place it width wise across the upper back. If you are using the
athletic cup, you'll want to put it lengthwise like this where the narrow tip right here is going
to be facing towards your head. If you are using the foam roller, just do it lengthwise also like
this. So let's get started. I'm going to place my towel over the can of soup, or the athletic cup if
you're using that. If you're using a foam roller, you won't need the towel. Let's try to position
this soup can directly over the most pronounced spot in the upper back. You want this directly
over the spine, just going over a little bit. So this is a three-part process, what I'm going to
do for the first part is a simple wall angel. That is pretty much allowing my upper back to
go into extension like this. If you do feel like you need more support underneath your neck, you're
more than welcome to place a pillow underneath, but the movement from here is very simple. Let's
bend the elbows at 90 degrees, bring them down like this, let gravity take your arm weight down as
much as you can. You're going to feel a very good stretch into the chest. From here, what I want to do
is just a simple motion of pretty much raising my arms up like this and then lowering them back down.
You're going to feel the muscles in the upper back really start to fire including around the chest.
You want to do this nice and slowly it should take you about five seconds to go all the way down and
then five seconds to come back up, and try to do this one for about 10 to 12 complete repetitions.
From there, what I'm going to do is known as a snow angel, and it hits the muscles just a little bit
differently. So my palms up towards the ceiling, I'm going to do just a nice motion of going all
the way down towards my legs and then coming all the way back up. Imagine that you're on the grass,
I should say outside in winter, making a nice snow angel, the same type of movement. Again, you want
to do this one, and it should take you about five seconds to go all the way up and five seconds to
go all the way down, and really focus on trying to take the arms down as much as you can because that
will build more extension into the back. 10 to 12 complete repetitions. From there, we can do what are
known as swimmers. So what I'm going to do is put my arms up like this and then I'm going to do nice
circular arcs, just up and down just like this, and again you'll notice that the muscles get hit just
a little bit differently. What these are focusing on doing is building extension into the back
but really also helping to loosen and strengthen things and build coordination, which will hopefully
lead to better overall posture. You can do this and then go in reverse with it too and notice
that it will hit it a little bit differently. Take what is most effective at really just stretching
those muscles out, but you want to do this one nice and slow, it should take you about five seconds to
do a complete motion, and try to do it for about 10 to 12 repetitions in both directions. Here is a
rounded back exercise that's perfect for office workers or students that have to lean forward
throughout the day. The first one is known as a sprinkler, so I'm going to start seated with very
good posture. Let's do a simple chin tuck like this. My arms are going to go straight out in front of
me, straight at the elbows to the point where the hands are going to be able to clap. I want to take
one arm back straight like this as far as i can go, really focus on trying to drive that arm back
and feeling an activation of the muscles into the upper back. Once we hit a very comfortable stretch
let's hold this one for about 20 seconds. From there, you're going to relax, come back and then
repeat it on the other side. What this does is it really hits the muscles in the upper back around
the shoulder blades and hopefully we'll start to retrain them to draw those shoulder blades
back. What I'm going to do is this movement right here for five complete repetitions on both sides.
With each repetition, try to go back a little bit further with it because it's only going to help
improve posture and hopefully strengthen those muscles leading to again a less rounded back
posture. The second one, what I'm going to do is I'm going to sit upright, do that chin tuck again, put
my hands behind my head just like this, and I'm going to do a simple winging of the elbows, and
then what I'm going to do is place my back on the chair, and then just simply go back into extension.
So a backwards movement with the back, and this usually feels really good! You should feel it
stretch into the chest, you should also feel the shoulder blades in the back really start to pinch
together, but you want to hold this one for a nice comfortable stretch for about 20 seconds. From
there, you're just going to relax, take a breather and then you're going to repeat this one for five
complete repetitions. Just a good way to really focus on improving posture, stretch everything
out and hopefully lead to less rounded back posture. So here is a great way to not only
stretch everything out, but also strengthen weak muscles in the upper back that may be leading to
that rounded back appearance. The first part, let's just get everything stretched out and the easiest
way to do that is with the doorway or door frame method. I'm just going to go up to a door frame, my
feet are going to go together, my arms are going to go straight like this till the point where
they're shaped like a 'y', so straight at the elbow. Go up towards the door frame corners. What I want
to do from there is then lean into it with my body weight. The more that we lean into it the more that
you're going to feel a very good stretch into the chest, but also in between the shoulder blades. So
once we hit a comfortable stretch, let's hold this for at least 20 seconds. From there, you're just
going to relax, take a breather, and then repeat this three to five times. With each repetition, what
you want to do is focus on going forward even more because you'll get a better stretch into the upper
back. The second movement, I'm going to go into what I call the 'field goal', so my arms go down like this,
elbows bent roughly at 90 degrees. From there I'm going to do the same thing, I'm just going to use
my body weight to lean into it. You're going to notice that this hits the muscles in the front,
the chest, and in between the back just a little bit differently, and that's good because we want
to target a lot of muscle groups. Hold this one for at least 20 seconds. You're going to relax and then
you're going to repeat this one for three to five times. The last movement, I'm going to go down to
the point where my elbows and my arms kind of look like a 'w', and then you're going to repeat
this again. You're going to feel the muscles get hit just a little bit differently. Three to five
repetitions for 20 seconds. From there, let's focus on trying to strengthen them a little bit more.
The movements in the strengthening part are going to be very similar to the ones in the stretching
but we're going to challenge the muscles and really try to fight fatigue that occurs during
the day that might be leading to that rounded back posture. Let's take a large rolled up bath towel,
you can also use a broomstick, a large pvc pipe, anything that is long and sturdy. What I want to
do is straighten the arms out at the elbow just like this, and then we're going to form that 'y'
that we did earlier in that stretching video. The difference is what I'm going to do is a scapular
retraction. So I'm going to pull on my towel as much as I can, elbows are going to be straight,
and then I'm going to just bring it back overhead like this as much as I can. When you do this, you're
really going to feel the muscles in the upper back, in between the shoulder blades, also into the chest
really start to fire. So challenge yourself, really try to bring this back as much as you can. Once we
hit that point, let's slowly lower the towel down to form that 'w' shape with our elbows and our arms.
You're really going to feel a great stretch happen with so many muscles. Once we hit a very
comfortable stretch into the back, let's hold this for 20 seconds. From there, you're going to
come back up and just go back into that 'y' position. On the next repetition, challenge yourself to even
come back further because it's only going to help stretch and strengthen these muscles out even more,
and then you're going to repeat this for five complete repetitions. If you do feel that one spot
during this movement, like let's say it's right here for me, becomes very tight, maybe achy, what
I want to do is focus on that one just a little bit more. Stretch into it, really try to get that
movement a little bit more even because you might find that it just helps stretch everything out
and improves your back posture. So with this rounded back exercise we're going to let gravity
do all of the work, and do a nice decompression traction stretch into the back to loosen
everything up. This one you can do in bed or even on a couch. I'm going to start off on my
back with a rolled up towel, pretty much over the middle part. You want, if you look at your back the
rounded portion, wherever it is most pronounced, you want to put the towel over that to start off with.
From there, I'm going to do a simple chin tuck, take my hands put them on the back of my head like this.
Let's wing the elbows back down towards the floor as much as we can and then let gravity take our
upper body weight. This feels really good! You're going to feel a very good stretch into the chest,
also over the area of the towel. You can hold this position right here for an extended period of time.
30 seconds, 45 seconds, even a minute if you feel comfortable. Just do nice, slow controlled breathing,
allow the tension to be taken out. From there, you can relax, take a breather, and then you can repeat
this up to five times. Challenge yourself with each repetition too to drive the elbows down
and just let your upper body weight, including your head weight, just be taken down by gravity. To make
this harder, what you can do is take your arms like, this pretty much extend them straight at the elbow,
overlap the hands and then just allow that to just again be taken down by gravity. You'll notice that
this becomes a little bit more intense, so only go to your comfort level, but experiment with this one
too and see if that one hits it a little bit more. If you still feel like you need to take this one
to the next level, what you can do is use a simple weight. I'm going to be using a one liter water
bottle. You can use a small dumbbell also. Just grab it like this, at the hands, and then straighten the
elbows like this and do the same thing, but the more weight that you have in the arms like this,
the more it's going to pull over that area. So only go to your comfort level. You want to have this
feel like a nice even stretch, but from there what you can do is experiment by moving up and a little
bit down from the back. Try to find that sweet spot that just feels like it's hitting the back just a
little bit more, because it's going to target it a little bit more efficiently. So if you stuck
around and watched the whole video, you're going to be rewarded with, arguably, the best exercise
there is to help fix a rounded back. This is known as a shoulder blade lift off. We just need a door
or a wall. What I'm going to do is place my feet together, and then angle them slightly away from
this door, and then I'm just going to use my upper body weight to lean into it. So we want our body
just at a very slight angle. From there, I'm going to take my chin, tuck it towards my chest, bend
the elbows at 90 degrees like this, and then press into the door with my elbows. That's very important
during this exercise. What we're going to do is use our strength to press our weight into the door and
then push ourselves off like this, so it shouldn't feel like anything else is moving in the body.
Almost like our body is a pole or just a plank of wood. You want to focus on driving forward to lift
the body off as much as you can. You're going to feel a great activation in between the shoulder
blades. It should almost feel like those muscles are firing, the chest is firing, and the shoulder
blades are pinching into the back. Try to hold this position for at least 20 seconds, but if you feel
comfortable, you can challenge yourself. Work up towards a half minute or longer, and then when we
need a break, just take one. Relax, and then repeat this one up to five times. With each repetition,
try to drive forward even more, challenge yourself. Really work those muscles because it's only going
to help strengthen everything and hopefully lead to less issues of a rounded back posture
in the future. If you liked the video and it helped, please show us your support by
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questions, please leave them below I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you for watching!