If you’re like most working Americans, you spend all day hunched over a computer screen before slouching during your busy commute home. This can lead to back and neck pain from improper posture and can wreck havoc on your body. Thoracic extension is important not only for proper posture, it also is tied to alleviating back, neck and even hip pain. In this video, Point Performance’s Adam Gershowitz demonstrates how to use a foam roller for thoracic extension.
Directions:
Begin foam rolling your back with feet planted and butt elevated. Pick a spot along your back and stop. Drop your butt to the ground. Activate your core muscles, and do not allow your lower back to arch upward as you begin to bend backward as far as you can while maintaining proper form in your low back. Take a deep breath and expand your rib cage, and exhale. Take three slow, deep breaths.
Pick your butt up, pick a different spot along your spine and repeat. Do not rapidly roll and bend, instead move purposefully and with intention.