Standing thoracic mobility [video].
Thoracic spine tightness, or hypomobility, is something that plagues most people I meet and almost none of them have any idea it is a problem.
That is because when the thoracic spine is tight, you can have:
neck pain and decreased neck range of motion (ROM)
shoulder pain and decreased shoulder ROM
difficulty sleeping
headaches (these tend to be more on one side of the head)
and difficulty sitting up straight
You see, very rarely does the thoracic spine actually hurt. It just ruins the good times for everything else around it, which is kind of a dick move.
It looks so harmless, like a calm lake except there are carnivorous fish waiting below the surface for you to put your foot in so they can rip it apart. Wait, what were we talking about?
In the picture above, you can see that the thoracic spine curves forward naturally.
Too much sitting at the computer, staring at our phones and commuting to and from work cause us to curve forward even more.
Left unchecked, this continues to progress and the spine can, essentially, fuse so that we lose the ability to extend.
With a little awareness and the right tools for the job, we can improve and maintain thoracic mobility.
Using a foam roller is great (see below) but sometimes we cannot get on the ground to mobilize our spine. The video below the foam roller one will show how you can mobilize the spine in a standing position. It can be done almost anywhere.
