Is Your Upper Back Holding You Back?

An easy way to check the flexibility of your thoracic spine and associated muscles is this:

• Sit down on the floor with your back up against the wall or a door.
• Bend your hips and knees up as far as you can. This tightens the latissimus dorsi and counter-curves (in this cases reduces the lumbar lordosis) the lumbar spine making it difficult for that region to move.
• Place your arms against the wall with your elbows bent like you're taking an oath (with each arm).
• Now, slide your arms up the wall as far as you can. 
• Note the angle of your shoulder where you have to stop. 

You're shooting for a shoulder abduction angle of 150 degrees (the upper arm will be close to your ear) with about 90 degrees of shoulder external rotation. The first time I did this several months ago, I barely made it to a 90 degree angle and I thought my thoracic spine was going to explode - it was so tight. 

You can use the test as a drill to improve your flexibility. If you have a partner who can help you, ask him or her to provide some resistance under your arm so you can pull down while also lifting up (yes - you can do that despite theories of reciprocal inhibition). Some people increase motion more quickly although the research suggests that there's not too much difference between the two types of stretch.

If you find that you just cannot get your arms up much past 90-100 degrees, try just one arm at a time. In a few weeks, you'll loosen up considerably.

DK