Sebastian Brosche · 15 min · 897 words
Previously titled: Video 4 – Upper Back Rehab Program
Hi everyone, welcome back. It's day four of our upper back rehab program. Now for day four we're going to need a few tools. We've got a couple of light weights.
So I'm using a medicine ball here. This is three kilos, but a dumbbell will work just as well. I've also got a lighter weight. This one's a kilo and a half.
Again, light dumbbells are fine. I've got my foam roller and I've got my length of TheraBand. Okay, so I can put most of that to one side for now. Just keep the foam roller.
And as we have the last couple of days, we're going to start with that mobilization. This should be becoming quite familiar by now. You may find that you're starting to get a bit more mobility with this than we had earlier in the week. But as always, we're not going to force anything.
Just roll the muscles of the upper back to finish. And then we can pop the foam roller to one side. So I'm going to grab my lightweight. So again, this is just a kilo or two.
And I'm going to start lying on my side, knees on top of each other and shoulders on top of each other as well. So with the top hand, I'm just going to take the weight. I'm just going to take the arm back as far as I can. Now, as I do that, I follow up with my eyes.
So I get the rotation going all the way through the spine there. If you're finding this tricky, you could start without the weight. That's fine as well. You still get a really good mobilization.
The weight just assists that. If you don't have a weight hand, a small bottle of water works quite nicely. And then just roll over onto your opposite hip. I'm going to do the exact same thing, going the other way.
And drop the weight to one side. Grab your thera-band. So with this one, I'm going to start with my palms facing down. I'm going to roll the hands in.
I get some tension between the hands. And from here, I'm going to keep the hands where they are. So I want the hands over the elbows. I'm just going to let the arms come up.
The band wants to pull my hands together. It wants to do that. I'm not letting it. And then back down again.
This is working a lot of those back muscles. You're working the rotator cuff, but you're also working middle and lower trapezius. We're only going up to shoulder height for now. Now a lot of people find that one surprisingly hard work, so do switch for an easier band if you're finding it hard.
And then we're just going to mix that up with the scapular push-ups that we did earlier in the week. So again, arms straight, elbows locked out. I'm just going to let the shoulder blades slide forwards and back. And then switch back to the band.
So once again, there's a bit of tension between my arms. Drop the band. And back to the push-ups. Keeping the arms locked out.
We're really pushing the shoulders forward. Just there. Give your arms a shake. The final sequence.
You may remember this position from earlier in the week. Once again, I'm going to focus on keeping my lower back down, so not letting it arch up. I pressed into the floor. This time, I'm going to take the arms back overhead.
And I'm just going to take it as far as it wants to go comfortably. And I'm just going to hold. So it's an important idea with a reasonably lightweight, I don't want to be doing it with something too heavy. And also, if you're getting shoulder pain when you do this, if it feels like it's pinching in this position, I want to back right off or leave this one out altogether.
If that is the case, you may want to go back and find our shoulder pain program. I gradually get a little bit more movement until I get right back to floor level. If you're a bit more mobile and you can touch your hands to the floor quite easily to start with, then you can always do this elevated on a bench or using a foam roller to add a bit extra height. Okay.
Coming up, I'm going to take the weight. This time, we're going to go overhead and we're just going to do some side bends. So keeping them reasonably small. Again, just within that reasonably comfortable range.
And then back to the floor again. We're going to go one more time. Make sure you keep breathing. Focus on keeping them lower back down on the floor.
And again, just hold it at a level where it's reasonably comfortable. Don't try and force it further. Just gradually letting the muscles lengthen under tension. Coming up.
Go overhead. Go into side bends. Feels too much with the weight at first. It's fine to leave the weight to one side.
Do it without the weight. And put the ball down and relax. That's all for day four. So we've got one more day to go.
We'll see you back here tomorrow for the rest of the programme.
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