INDIANAPOLIS — Your upper body, back and shoulders may feel cramped and tight depending on how much time you spend hunched over your computer. That is a common complaint from a lot of patients at Summit Spine and Therapy in Castleton.
When they come to see chiropractor Dr. Clark Scott, they ask for help opening up, and he advises that a wall can do just that.
This Friday, Dr. Scott demonstrated a stretch that you can do most anytime, anywhere.
“We all have a wall, so we're going to teach you a real quick exercise that's going to help open up,” he said. “So we're going to place our hips, our back and also our head against the wall. When we do this, try to reach the crown of your head toward the ceiling. You're going to feel these deep neck muscles start to turn on and also watch for this rib flare, (be)cause a lot of people will lose this, and if you lose that, you lose the stretch.”
“Keep secure here through your trunk and then we're going to start in our T position here," he said, fully extending his arms horizontally from his shoulders.
"From here, if this is easy for you, then we're going to go into our field goal position here," as he bent his elbows to 90 degrees with fingers pointed to the ceiling. "We're going to hold this for 10 seconds, and I would start with probably 5-to-10 reps of this at first because this can be a pretty aggressive stretch, especially for people who are really, really tight through the upper neck and pecs."
Even if you don't have a wall, as Dr. Scott said, if you can stand completely straight and not allow your ribs to flare forward, you can get that stretch through your back and core, quick and easy, and it does feel good.
It's a little tweak as you work to be your best you.
Watch Dr. Scott's demonstration in the video player.