Stretching the Chest and Shoulders to increase ROM in the Back
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Stretching the Chest and Shoulders to increase ROM in the Back
If you have walked into a gym recently or been outside and looked at people, you may have noticed a current trend of 'Rounded Shoulders'. This looks like someone who wants to be a football player, and it seems that they no longer have a neck while being a bit hunched over. This is caused by gym-attendees over-exercising their chest and shoulders while forgetting their back (or exercising it improperly), or for non gym-attendees who have bad spinal posture. Here is an effective stretch that can be done anywhere.
To start, lay down on your back so that the whole body is on the ground looking up at the ceiling/sky. Extend the arms out straight to the sides of the body so that they are perpendicular to the torso and parallel with one another at shoulder height while still on the ground. Next, bend your elbows so that your forearms come off the ground pointing straight up to the ceiling/sky leaving your upper arm firmly pressed still against the ground. Now, while keeping the upper arm and elbow firmly against the ground, slowly rotate the shoulders back while bringing the bent arms down to the floor (close to the sides of the head), keeping the 90degree bend in the elbow. Do your best to bring them all the way to the floor so that the entire arm and hand is against the floor, and hold.
This will loosen up your chest and shoulders, improve your ability to rotate at the shoulder, open up your back flexibility and slowly improve your spinal posture. What a winner.
Comments
12/6/2008 3:23:46 PMmichael said:
I don't think you understand the meaning of perpendicular and parrallel.
1/23/2009 11:04:42 AM
Nicholas said:
Oh no, I do. Try reading it again and performing the stretch, it works mighty well.
7/19/2011 2:11:32 PM
Linda said:
Parallel means extending side by side and if you are lying on your back with the arms to the sides they can't be parallel but they can be perpendicular to the body unless you are raising them in the air. With the elbows bent, then the arms can be parallel.
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