How to Decompress Your UPPER BACK (Between the Shoulder Blades)

in this video i'm going to show you how to decompress your upper back between the shoulder blades for instant pain relief stay tuned hey everyone dr rowe from spinecare in st joseph michigan in this video i'm going to show multiple decompression stretching exercises for the upper back even more so in between the shoulder blades we're going to use traction or pulling motions to open up those joint spaces reduce muscle tightness and hopefully get very quick pain relief even in as little as 30 seconds all of these stretching exercises are going to hit the upper back just a little bit differently so go through all of them and take the one that you feel is the most effective as a bonus all of these stretching exercises can be done at home don't require any special equipment and again can give very quick pain relief so let's get started and decompress the upper back right now this upper back decompression exercise is what i like to call the middle of the night fix because you can do just that we just need a flat elevated surface the edge of a bed works you can also use a countertop a desk or a sturdy chair it all works what i'm going to do is start off on the knees so make sure to place a pillow or towel underneath the knees for extra comfort let's put the arms out like this and i'm going to place them on the top of that flat surface to create a stable anchor point i'm going to tuck the chin down towards my chest from there the movement from here is very simple what i'm going to do is i'm going to lower my butt down towards my heels as much as i can when i do this you're going to start to feel a traction into the back from the upper back down to the lower back drive your butt down towards the floor as much as you can to intensify that stretch once we hit that comfortable stretch we hold this one for 30 seconds while doing nice slow controlled breathing it's very important just to let as much tension out as possible from there we're just going to relax take a breather and then on the next repetition try to go down even further to help decompress that area even more you want to do this for three to five repetitions so if we want to take this exercise to the next level let's take a large rolled up bed sheet place it over the area in the upper back that you feel needs a little bit more tension what i'm going to do is just grab the two ends like this and i'm going to go back into that position that we just did earlier from there let's tuck the chin towards the chest try to drive the elbows forward as much as you can to put as much tension into that spot because that will help get a deeper stretch let's then from there lower the butt down towards our heels when you do this variant of the exercise you're going to feel a much deeper stretch into that area it really pinpoints areas that you feel needs to get decompressed just a little bit further so take the butt down towards the heels as much as you can hold this position for 30 seconds comfortably from there you're just going to relax take a breather and then you're going to repeat each time you do this try to drive your elbows forward more to get a little bit more tension into that spot and the butt down towards the heels as much as you can this right here it just really pulls and opens up those joints in the back from there you want to do 30 second holes for five times move the towel up and down and do different spots as needed this exercise is what i like to call how to decompress your upper back using a can of beef barley soup you can use other flavors but i think this one is the most tasty we also need a large bath towel for this let's take our can of soup place it width wise across our back so we want it face like this and then i'm just going to roll it up in the towel just like this start off on the floor place your upper back in between the shoulder blades directly over that soup can so i'm feeling a lot of achiness right here i want to pinpoint that area as much as i can from there what i'm going to do is just take my hands like this place them on the back of my head and allow my upper body to just sag down towards the floor gravity is going to take it and then start to traction that area right over that soup can actually i just got a little bit of a pop right there too during this exercise it's very common to get a release that is a snap cracker pop in the area over the soup can that is normal it's just gas is being released we want to drive our elbows down and our head down as much as we can while we do this because it will intensify that traction once we hit that point hold this position for 30 seconds you can just relax from there take a breather and then repeat this one up to five times challenge yourself again to take those elbows down in the head down as much as you can to intensify that traction and help decompress that spot even further and hopefully get more pain relief you can also experiment with taking your arms up straight like this and then taking it back sometimes it offers just a little bit more traction into that spot to give a little bit more relief so go through both motions see which one is more effective for helping your upper back when it comes to decompressing the upper back one of the best exercises is a yoga pose called the child's pose so i'm going to show you two different modified variations of that that are going to target in between the shoulder blades just a little bit more for the first one i like to use a rolling office chair for this we're also going to start off on the knees so make sure to put a pillow or towel underneath them for extra comfort let's start off just like this on our knees i'll stretch the arms straight put our palms down on that chair what i'm going to do from there is tuck my chin towards my chest and i'm going to push my arms out push that chair out as far as i can when you do this you're already going to feel a stretch into the upper back go as far as you're able to go once we hit that point what i'm going to do from there is then lower my butt down towards my heels this will help intensify that stretch that traction into the back when i do this i feel it from the shoulders all the way down to the tailbone go down as far as you're able to go from there what you want to do is outstretch the arms out just a little bit more go as far as you can this will help open those joints in the upper back even more once we hit a very comfortable stretch hold this one for up to 30 seconds from there you can just relax take a breather and then repeat this one up to five times each time go a little bit further with it put your butt more towards your heels outstretch your arms even further slide that chair away because the more you do this the more it's going to stretch into those joints the great part about the chair method is is that we can target different angles also so let's get back into that position but what i'm going to do is slide my body i should say that chair just a little bit towards the right when i do this it's going to hit those muscles those joints in the upper back just a little bit differently so experiment with different angles if you feel like one is hitting that spot in your back just a little bit more throw some more repetitions in there to help release it you can also go over to the other side and see if that helps too but it's just a great way to pinpoint spots and really decompress the upper back quickly and easily with the second modified child's pose exercise i'm going to go next to a door and use a small towel or in this case a pillow case so what i'm going to do is just loop the pillowcase around the doorknob like this so it's nice and sturdy i find that this method is a lot better than the over the door method that you see in other videos too because it's going to offer a more straight line pull into the back i like to loop the ends of that pillow case around my hands like this so i have a very good amount of grip in there so let's have very good straight posture let's tuck our chin towards our chest what i want to do is make sure that i have a lot of tension already pre-built in my upper body so really pull back on your arms until you feel a very good stretch into the upper back to begin with from there i'm going to lower my butt down towards the heels the more that you lower the butt down towards the heels the more intense the stretch is going to be into the upper and middle back only go to your comfort level once we hit that point let's hold this position for up to 30 seconds do nice slow controlled breathing also to let the tension out from there you just relax take a breather and then repeat this up to five times with each repetition drive the butt down towards the heels even further to get a more intense decompressive stretch into the upper back this next decompression stretching exercise is one of my personal favorites because you can pretty much do it anywhere at home or at work and it's really easy to do all we need is a door or a wall what i'm going to do is start off with very good upright posture let's take our hands place them against the door just like this make sure the elbows are straight we want to position our body to the point where we're just an arm length away from there i'm going to tuck my chin towards my chest and then take my hands crawl up the door as much as i can the more that i crawl up the more that you're going to feel it stretch into the upper back go up as far as you feel comfortable once we hit that point let's take our palms flat against the door i'm going to then from there use my knees bend them and squat downwards like this with my lower body weight when i do this it's going to intensify that stretch into the upper and middle back in between the shoulder blades go down as far as you feel comfortable once we hit that point you want to hold this position for up to 30 seconds do nice slow controlled breathing also to take tension out you can then relax try to crawl up the wall or the door just a little bit further to intensify that stretch and then repeat this up to five times if we want to focus a little bit more into this stretch and take it to the next level when we get into this position take one arm off and then bend the elbow like this and then slide your body towards the other direction so you're rotating in the opposite direction when you do this it's going to activate the muscles in the upper back just a little bit differently try to reach over as far as you feel comfortable try to hold this one for 15 to 20 seconds you just relax take a breather and then simply switch to the other side it's just a good way to open up those joints in between the shoulder blades a little bit more and hopefully get pressure out even quicker if you like the video and got a lot of relief please show us your support by giving this video like maybe subscribing to our channel too if you have any comments or questions please leave them below i'll get back to you as soon as i can thank you for watching

Channel: SpineCare Decompression and Chiropractic Center

Views: 316,946

Keywords: how to decompress your upper back between your shoulder blades, how to decompress your upper back at home, how to decompress your upper back for instant pain relief, how to decompress your upper back, upper back decompression, how to decompress your middle back, pain between shoulder blades, how to decompress upper spine, upper back stretching exercises, upper back pain exercises, upper back pain stretches, shoulder blade stretching exercises, spinecare, dr rowe, upper back pain

Id: 6j7YX5-qyzA

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021