Improve Thoracic Mobility with Simple Breathing Exercises
Looking to improve your thoracic mobility and the range of motion in your upper back? Whether it’s extension or rotation, we want our upper back to be able to move well. The reason our back’s range of motion starts to decline these days is usually due to
1.) Technology and
2.) The way we spend our time in the world.
Think about how we sit forward at our desks or look down at our phones: not only does our neck come forward but our upper back stops moving…Then we get into the gym and try to lift all of these heavy things!
In general, we want to be able to have extension and rotation in our upper back. Without reasonable extension and rotation, our shoulder blades get really tight which leads to other issues in the body like pain in the shoulders, neck pain, tension, tightness, and of course, back pain.
We don’t always realize how all of these pain points are related and you might be surprised to learn that where you have the pain doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the part of the body you need to focus on. I guarantee if you start to open up the upper back and open up the ribcage you’re going to start feeling different in your whole body!
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Test your mobility
First things first: I recommend you test your mobility in your thoracic back area to find out exactly where your range of motion currently is.
(I also recommend my full-body mobility test!)
To get started, sit on the floor (or on the bed, couch, etc.) and make sure your knees are higher than the hips. Doing this helps to lock out the low back so we can only move from the upper back.
Raise your arms and attempt to rotate. Twist as far as possible in one direction and see how far you go. Use your line of vision to get an idea of how mobile you are from one side to the other. It’s absolutely normal to have one range of motion be greater than the other. If you’re feeling like “oh my gosh, I can’t twist at all!” — don’t worry. That’s what we’re going to work on.
Use a prop to enhance the mind-body connection
I use something called Rock Floss from a company, Rock Tape. I love this product because it’s sticky, so it’s going to stay in place wherever I put it. You can also use a TheraBand. If you don’t have a TheraBand you can use a sweater or scarf – find something that can be wrapped around your ribcage, right underneath the sternum. The objective here is to be able to keenly feel the low rib cage.
You don’t want it to be so tight that you can’t breathe! We’re using this as feedback; if I have something touching my body then my brain knows where the bodily focus goes. If I’m just saying “expand from the rib cage” but without actual feedback, my brain might not know what it’s supposed to be doing.
This increased feedback will allow your brain to start understanding your physical cues quicker and easier. This is true mind-body connection.
Banded diaphragmatic breathing
You can come to lie down on your back or stay sitting. It’s important to release shoulder tension here, so if you practice seated then it might get a little uncomfortable. If you have to practice in a seated position I’d suggest sitting against the wall or another object. You want to be super relaxed here!
We’re going to breathe into our rib cage, but place the focus on expanding from the sides of where the band is wrapped. When people think of diaphragmatic breathing, they may just think of “belly breathing” but it’s crucial that you’re expanding the rib cage with your breath in order to really activate the diaphragm.
As you do this, you want to resist the urge to lift your shoulders. Really focus on the breath expanding the rib cage and allowing the belly to naturally drop.
Test that out a few times and when you’re ready close your eyes and focus on 10 really slow breaths.
Inhale for three seconds. Exhale for six seconds.
Inhale through the nose and then purse your lips as you exhale through the mouth. The pursed lips help to guide the rib cage to contract. This exercise is going to help retrain the body into optimal breathing for tension release.
If you’re not feeling the sides of your ribs contract then place your hands on the side of your rib cage and add a little more feedback. This little bit of pressure is additionally encouraging the mind-body connection. I like to gently squeeze the sides and then take a breath into it – it just helps to show oh this is where I breathe into my side body.
Banded open book exercise for thoracic mobility
Lie down on your side and drop your back leg, bent, across the median line of your body. Lock your knee down on the floor, or place a pillow underneath the knee if that’s not comfortable for you. Your bottom arm is going to hold the leg down while the top arm reaches across and out.
Now, we’re going to breathe in and focus on expanding from the rib cage. Feel where the band is. As you exhale you’re going to open up the chest by rotating that extended arm up and over. Now you should be lying flat on your back, arm extended, chest open. And on the expansion think about using that breath to expand the ribcage. Then, breathe in and return to the starting position. You’re going to do this about 10 times. After 10 reps, rotate to the other side and do the same exercise.
As you do this practice, keep focusing on the band. Remember: this is where you’re re-training the body to do this dynamic breathing naturally on its own. Because once I can get good, dynamic breath going naturally then I can actually start to move from the thoracic spine, or upper back area, so much better. Because what attaches to the upper spine? The rib cage.
So if you have a really stiff rib cage then of course it’s going to be really hard to actually get movement through the spine. This is the first step. That’s why we start intentionally breathing into the rib cage so we can loosen that area and release the spine.
Semi-seated cat-cow
We’re not going to go into a full cat-cow. Instead of going onto your hands and knees go ahead and sit back on your heels with your hands out in front of you. Inhale as you roll the shoulders back, breathe into the band, and then exhale and round the shoulders and feel the band compress as you exhale.
Doing cat-cow in a semi-seated position helps drive more attention to the upper back. If it hurts your knees to sit in that position you can sit on a low chair or a bench, then reach your hands over and onto a couch or bed. This will allow you to still access that rounded position and just focus on the upper back.
Second thoracic mobility assessment
Now, take off your band and retest. Because how do you know what’s working if you’re not reevaluating?
Do the mobility test again (at the top of this post!). Hopefully, you’ll notice that your range of motion has increased. Good work! That’s simply from the act of intentionally breathing and the activation of the rib cage. By using that resistance band I’m showing my body what’s possible when I release restriction and open up.
Keep it loose
I hope this breathing sequence has helped you loosen up and discover the greater mobility in the thoracic spine! The body is connected in so many unexpected ways.
