Your upper back, known as your thoracic spine, is the section of your back between your shoulder blades. This area is responsible mostly for rotating, bending forward (flexion), and bending backwards (extension).
Why Thoracic Mobility is Important
Good mobility in your thoracic spine allows you to lift your arms all the way overhead, move your neck fully, breathe deeply, sit upright, and more.
As a society, we tend to spend a lot of time with our upper back and shoulders rounded forward – whether you are sitting at work, using your cell phone, feeding your newborn baby, driving your car, or watching TV. While this position isn’t harmful, spending too much time there without moving in other directions can lead to stiffness in your upper back. Over time, this might look like neck pain, shoulder blade pain, feeling like it’s hard to maintain certain postures, or limited overhead motion.
A Note About Posture
Despite what we’ve been told in the past, there is no perfect posture! There is no “good” posture. There is no “bad” posture. Most positions and postures are valuable in some capacity. The key is that you can move your body freely and without discomfort. So when you’re thinking about what posture might be best to help unlock your upper back, remember that moving around frequently matters more than assuming one singular posture.
Our Top 3 Tips to Unlock Your Upper Back
1. Move Often
Set a Pomodoro-style timer every 15 to 30 minutes throughout your work day to stand up, do an exercise, or just walk around the room briefly! We love this one.
2. Prioritize a mobility routine.
Work with your physical therapist to develop a daily (or almost daily) mobility routine. Check out one of our favorite mobility exercises for the upper back here!
3. Strength train 2-3 times per week.
Perform strengthening for your upper back 2-3 times a week to make your mobility gains last. Check out this video for some context around this!
How Physical Therapy Can Help
In physical therapy, we can use thoracic spine mobilization techniques to help you access a new range of motion. We always follow that with targeted mobility and strength exercises tailored to what your body needs specifically. This combination of manual therapy plus therapeutic exercise can be very effective in unlocking your upper back!
If you’re dealing with upper back pain and tightness, especially throughout your workday or in the early postpartum period, reach out to us! We’ll assess what your body actually needs and create a plan to help you move and feel better again.
Speak with a Doctor of Physical Therapy
References
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9026805/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5942425/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12421168/