Rhomboid & Scapular Pain Relief Exercises in 5 min

I'm going to share a highly effective 5minute exercise and stretching regimen designed to alleviate pain hey everyone Dr Jeff Pang here one of the most common causes of pain in the upper back and scapular region is muscle tightness due to myofascial trigger points more commonly known as muscle knots by reducing muscle tension through targeted stretches you can experience significant and immediate pain relief aim to do this program at least once or twice a day for maximum benefit let's first start with a quick warm-up to increase blood flow to our shoulders and upper back this will help prepare the muscles for stretching we're going to start off by doing 10 shoulder rolls forward 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 backwards 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 now we're going to do 10 scapular squeezes so pull your arms backwards like you're trying to get your shoulder blades to touch each other and then hold for a second okay okay one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 okay now let's start our stretching routine by first opening up the chest so clasp your hands behind your back push down and then straight out backwards this is going to squeeze your shoulder blades together while also opening up the chest we're going to hold this for 30 seconds now the purpose of this is to open up the chest or pectoral muscles which can become really tight from prolong sitting or hunching over a desk this leads to a lot of muscle imbalances that strains the muscles of the upper back such as the romboid and the trapezius and so this is really going to open it all up okay so 3 2 1 good now let's move on to the trapezius so gently pull your head towards the shoulder as if you're trying to get one ear to touch the shoulder on the same side we're going to hold this for 30 seconds on each side now a lot of people have upper back pain because of muscle tension in the upper trapezius this is especially true for those who spend long periods of time in front of a computer screen tight traps really restrict range of motion of the neck and shoulder as well as of the shoulder blade and all of this leads to a lot of pain so just a few more seconds on this side 3 2 1 switch sides so stretching out the traps really helps improve posture and in addition when these muscles get really tight it can also compress nearby nerves and this can lead to significant discomfort so stretching really helps release this nerve compression reducing a lot of nerve related pain so we're just going to hold this for a few more seconds here and in 3 2 1 good now let's stretch out the levator scapula look down about 45° between your chest and your shoulder pull down with your hand gently and what you're going to feel is you're going to feel a stretch on the muscle from the base of your neck going down toward towards your shoulder blit now this is the levator scapula which like the trapezius gets really tight for those people who spend a lot of time in front of screens or in front of computers and stretching out this muscle can relieve a lot of that muscle tension so we're going to hold this for just a few more seconds and in 3 2 1 good switch sides now when people form trigger points in the levator scapula this muscle can cause referred pain into the upper back region and around the scapula so a lot of people with upper back and scapular pain it's actually because of muscle knots or what we call trigger points inside the levator scapula now the other trick that you can do when you're doing this stretch is you can just gently move your head side to side and you will be stretching different fibers in the muscles that can get tight so we're going to hold this for just a few more seconds 3 2 1 good now let's target the rhomboids so bring your hands together push outwards and as you push outwards slowly curl your upper back into a ball and you can tuck your chin into your chest you'll feel a stretch in your upper back between your shoulder blades we're going to hold this for 30 seconds now the ROM boids are really important in helping to maintain good posture and these often get really tied from chronic tension so stretching out the rhomboids helps correct postural imbalances and as you're doing the stretch what you can do is you can move your hands slowly up slowly down and you'll Target different parts of the muscles which can get really tight so I'm just going to hold this for a few more seconds 3 2 one good okay so now let's stretch out the entire upper body and trunk sit facing forward and then rotate your chest about 90° you can use your hands and either hold on to the seat or back of the chair to help you rotate your body even more we're going to hold this for about 30 seconds on each side now this exercise is going to help improve range of motion and mobility of the thoracic spine and can also help alleviate a lot of stiffness and pain in the upper back so we're just going to hold this for a few more seconds and in 3 2 1 we switch switch SIDS so working on rotating the trunk is also really important for those who spend a lot of time sitting or performing repetitive activities in addition a strong and stable core supports proper posture and spinal alignment so working on all of these stretches really helps prevent the formation of trigger points and can reduce a lot of pain so just a few more seconds here and in 3 2 1 great the most most important part of this routine is consistency perform this stretching program at least once or twice daily and especially after prolonged periods of sitting if you're having pain farther up in the neck or upper back you may find these stretching regimens just as effective thanks for watching

Channel: Jeffrey Peng MD

Views: 3,306

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Id: gqBAa_oKEOw

Length: 6min 49sec (409 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 08 2024