This video, I'm going to show you how to safely pop your
middle back. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare
in St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go
over some great exercises that are designed to open up and
release the middle and upper backs to give that satisfying
pop, crack, or release that you're looking for. All of
these exercises work just a little bit differently. So, go
through them all. Take what works best for you. As a note,
these are not chiropractic adjustments. They don't serve
to replace chiropractic adjustments. Instead, they're
just simple mobility exercises that again give that quick
mobilization or pop into the middle back that you're looking
for. So, let's get started! So, this exercise is a personal
favorite for many because it's a very easy way to open up the
middle back and get that satisfying pop, crack, or release
that you're looking for. I call this one the middle back
corkscrew. This is best done next to a wall. I'm going to
have my knees bent at 90 degrees on both sides. The side
that is facing the wall. Make sure that your hip, knee,
ankle, foot, everything is flush against that wall take
the hand on that side, press into the knee, and make sure
that this is a stable anchor point. So, it's always pressing
into the wall not to allow this side to come off. The other
knee is going to be bent on the floor. Make sure to put a
pillow or towel underneath it for extra comfort. So, let's
start with very good upright posture. Do a slight chin tuck
too so you have very good neck posture. The first movement is
very easy. I'm going to press the side into the wall. I'm
going to straighten the other side's arm like this straight
at the elbow and I'm going to slowly start to turn my whole
back from the lower into the middle to the upper including
my head in the opposite direction. This causes rotation
or that corkscrew effect and you'll feel a wonderful deep
stretch into the middle and upper back. You really want to
focus on feeling it over the spot in the middle back that is
locked up. Once you do this, go to a very deep but comfortable
stretch. This should not cause discomfort. Once you hit that
point, hold this for about 15 seconds. From there, you're
just going to relax, take a breather. On the next
repetition, stretch into it just a bit more to help open up
the middle back even further and you might get a sudden pop
or release with this one if that joint is locked up, but you
want to do this for about five repetitions. This is how we can
take it to the next level and target different spots,
different muscle groups. So, instead of going straight out
like this, let's raise our arms slightly up towards the ceiling
and do the same thing. What you'll notice is it hits the
back just a little bit differently. So, give that one
a try. Experiment with going up with different angles. If you
notice like right here, hits it just a little bit more over
that tight achy spot in the middle back, throw some more
reps in. You can also go towards the floor and do the
same thing but go through all of those motions. Again, throw
more reps in towards the spots than needed and then switch to
the other side to make sure everything is kept in balance.
So, this is what I like to call the school house pop. Somebody
please let me know in the comments that I wasn't the only
one doing this during grade school. What we need is a
sturdy chair. One without wheels and a solid back. I also
like to put a towel or small pillow over the top of the
chair right here for extra comfort. Just start with very
good upright posture to begin with. We want to focus the top
of the chair right here right over the spot of the middle
back. So for me it's about right here. Once I have that,
what I'm going to do is just press into it with my body
weight. Take my hands, place it right on the back of my head.
I'm going to wing my elbows backwards as much as I can to
help open up the chest. What I want to do is have an initial
amount of tension while doing this. That way we're going to
get better results. Once we feel that very good opening
into the chest and our shoulder blades are really starting to
pinch together, what I'm going to do is lean back with my
upper back as much as I can into the chair and this really
pinpoints that spot of the chair over the middle back. The
more that you lean into it, the more it's going to open up the
back into extension and you might get a sudden pop or
release. You want to focus on a comfortable stretch for about
10 to 15 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax and
take a breather and then you're going to repeat this one three
to five times. If it's ready to go, it will generally pop but
you can take this into a little bit more of a passive stretch
by just kind of winging my elbows back very gently, like
this over, the spot and I just do this for about a second but
don't try to slam your back into this. If it's going to go,
it's going to go. Only make sure that this feels nice and
comfortable. From there, you can just switch over different
spots by just sliding down with your butt into the chair and
doing the same thing but go pretty much from the middle to
the upper back, target any spots that you feel needed a
little bit more. So, here is a really easy way to open up your
middle back using the edge of a bed. The great part about this
one is we're going to traction or pull open those joints and
let gravity do all of the hard work. What we want to do is
start off at the edge of the bed. Place a pillow or towel
underneath the upper back too right at the edge of the bed.
It'll offer a little bit more support. Let's start by
supporting our head by just putting our hands on the just
like this. What we want to do next is just allow gravity to
take our upper body and head weight downwards towards the
floor. You should already start to feel a very gentle pulling
traction into the spot of the upper back that is over the
edge of the bed. From there, we want to intensify this by just
wean our elbows downwards towards the floor and this
usually feels really, really good. If it is locked up, you
might get a sudden pop crack or self release but only go to
your comfort level, this should not cause discomfort. From
there, what I want to do is hold this for about 15 to 20
seconds. and just relax as much as you can. The more you relax,
the more effective this exercise will be. When you need
a breather, just come back up just like this but do a couple
repetitions upwards to three. With each repetition too, I try
to stretch more into it by lowering my head towards the
floor and winging my elbows down even just a little bit
more but from there, use your feet to push yourself down just
a little bit more to target the spot down from there and you
want to repeat this process pretty much from the upper back
all the way down to the middle back. If you do notice that one
certain spot like right here, this is the pinpoint spot of
achiness for me. What I want to do is make note of that and
throw more repetitions in. Always target the spots that
need just a little bit more focus but go again from all the
way from the upper back to the middle back. If you want to
take this one to the next level even more so if you have pain
off to one side, let's say I have pain off to my right side.
What I want to do is the same movement but I'm going to bend
my body in the opposite direction. So, if I have
right-sided pain, I'm going to bend just a little bit towards
my left and repeat this. What you'll notice is it helps open
up the middle back just a little bit more off to that
right side. This feels really good but go through that and
use any motions that you feel are a little bit more effective
and I really hope that opens up and self releases the upper and
middle back. This what I like to call the anywhere stretch
because we can do this one in a door frame or in a corner of a
wall. I'm going to go over three different positions that
hit the back a little bit differently and may give you
that satisfying self pop, crack, or release that you're
looking for. So, let's go into the door frame or right next to
the corner of that wall. I'm going to put my feet together,
have very good upright posture to begin with. Let's start with
the Y position with our arms. So, I'm going to reach up like
this, keep my elbows straight, arms are going to be straight.
I'm going to grip off to the side for a stable anchor point.
From there, I'm going to lean forward. My whole body is
leaning as one unit forward into the door frame or towards
that corner. When you do this, you're going to feel a very
good activation of the chest muscles and also into the upper
and middle back. It should feel like the back is starting to
open up. Really focus on that. You want to hold this one
comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. From there, you're
just going to relax, take a breather. On the next one,
we're going to do kind of like a field goal U position. I'm
going to have my elbow elbows bent roughly at 90 °. From
there, I'm just going to do the same thing and when I do this
one, I usually do get a pretty quick self release. This one
just really opens up my back but again, I'll hold this one
for about 15 to 20 seconds really stretching into it as
much as I can. I'm going to relax and then I'm going to go
into the final position which is a W. So, kind of taking our
elbows like this and then just simply repeating. Go through
all three of these motions. If you feel like one is just
targeting it a little bit better and helping to open up
the back, throw more repetition in at that point. You can also
target off to the side by taking one hand on the opposite
side and stabilizing over the shoulder and then just simply
repeating. So, if I have a lot going on my right side, I'm
just going to just focus on stretching into just a little
bit more onto that one side but go through all of the motions.
Again, if you feel like one opens it up and gives you that
pop, crack, or release, really focus on that movement. So, my
absolute favorite way to open up my middle back and get that
satisfying self pop or release is with the foam roller method.
I know a lot of people don't have foam rollers. So, here is
a very quick trick that you can do in a pinch. I'm going to be
using a tasty can of beef barley soup. You can use any
flavor you like and a large bath towel, place it right in
the middle and what I'm going to do is just roll the towel
over that can of soup and voila, you have a homemade foam
roller. If you do choose to use the soup can method, just make
sure that the can is widthwise so your spine is center over
the can its if you would like to get a foam roller you can
pretty much get them at any local sporting goods department
but I will also leave a link in this video's description so
with the foam roller method I'm going to go over three
different positions to hopefully open up the middle
back and get it to release let's start off on the floor
just like this I'm going to be centered over the foam roller
with this one also I'm going to position the foam roller to
begin with right at the bottom of the middle back we do not
want to do this exercise over the lower back because that can
cause discomfort. My knees are going to be bent. My feet are
going to be flat as a stable anchor point. My hands are
going to go right behind my head like this. Let's start off
by just winging our upper body and head weight down towards the
floor and then just lifting the butt up like this, kind of like
a bridge exercise. What you're going to notice is is that the
more you go down with your head and your elbows, the more it's
going to open up the back over the spot of the foam roller and
if it is locked up, you might get that sudden pop or release
that you're looking, for but let's just start off with a
simple roll. I'm going to use my legs here to roll from my
upper back to my middle back just very, very slowly and this
should take you about a couple seconds to be able to do and
you want to do this for about 3 to 5 complete repetitions and
from there what I'm going to do is start to focus on spots that
are just a little bit more tight and achy so in the second
part I'm going to stop right over that spot like let's say
it's right here for me I want to stretch more into it by just
winging my head and my elbows down towards the floor putting
my back into extension and this feels really good. What you
want to do is hold this deep, comfortable stretch for about
15 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax and then
take a breather and then try to do this for about three to five
reps. With each repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more to hopefully get that to open up and release
and then from there, you can just switch over different
spots as needed. If that spot is still pretty pesky and does
not want to open up. Let's get right back over that. Here will
be the third position. What I'm going to is either take my
hands like this straight or you can just put them off to the
side like this. I'm going to just lower my head down towards
the floor as much as we can and then I'm just going to do a
passive stretch with my elbows and hands just down towards the
floor. That passive stretch really opens up the spot over
the foam roller and can get it. I don't know if you just heard
it but I did give it to finally release but it can just get it
to release just a little bit more into that area to
hopefully get it to self pop but don't try to force this one
just go towards a very comfortable stretch and again
you can just switch over different spots at that point
and just simply repeat this as needed. If the exercises helped
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