Is it hard to get your arms fully overhead? Is standing without rounding a chore? This stretch addresses many of these and other mobility issues I often see in clients.
First, this stretch works to improve your overhead reach. Overhead reach can be limited by many factors including age related changes, poor gym training habits, or past shoulder injury that’s not been fully rehabilitated. If you can’t fully reach overhead, you’ll compensate by overextending through your low back. This explains why low back pain is often aggravated by working overhead in the gym or at home.
Second, your upper back is getting a great stretch into extension in this position. Gravity is doing all the work as you breathe and sink toward the floor. If you have problems with poor posture due to a rounded upper back (everyone), this stretch can be really helpful to restore mobility for better posture.
Third, by maintaining a good position in your low back as you sit toward your heels, you’ll get a good stretch in your hips. Our hips get tight with age and if we sit for long periods of time. This makes things like putting on your socks and proper squatting or lifting difficult. This position offers a gentle way to restore mobility in your hips.
When performing this stretch, there are a few areas you may struggle with. You don’t want to feel pinching in the top of the shoulders, or painful pinching in the front of the hips. And you don’t want to sit too far back towards your feet so that your low back goes into flexion or rounding. If you have tight knees this stretch might be a bit tricky. If you live in Southern New Hampshire and are interested in the work around for these problems, give me a call! I’d love to work with you!