need a good upper back stretch

[spyrosmom]

I've got this knotty kink btwn my shoulder blades and into my lower neck that I cannot get out. DH had massage it out, but it keeps coming back, and I can't carry him with me everywhere I go. Its been this way for about month, and I can't seem to stretch it out. I really don't want to go to the DR for muscle relaxers, but I feel as though I'm heading that way. Anybody know of a really good stretch to get deep in that area? The only thing that feels really good on it now is the downward position of a 1 arm row, bc the wt kinda stretches it out or the stretch at the end of PUB where you just lay over the ball limp, it also opens everything up. But the kink comes back in an hour or so. How do I get this out??

Nan

 

[Massaging Mom]

Nan,

It's hard to say which muscle it is. It's probably your rhomboids. This might sound odd. I used to have a bunch of knots and corded muscles between my shoulder blades. With weekly massages with a massage therapist, stretching, and my dh massaging me almost nightly, the knots didn't go away until I started doing rotator cuff exercises. Weird, huh. Anyhow, the PT told me that they really didn't need stretched, I needed to build up strength there. The combination of back work, stretches and massages resolved all but one little knot.

As far as stretches... After I've warmed up, I hold a 3 pound dumbbell in that one arm downward row position while I gently swing foward and back (10 times), side to side (10x's), clockwise (10x's), counterclockwise (10's).

Hope this helps.

Wendy

 

[Liann]

Have you tried a Foam Roller? I LOVE mine. I lay on the floor with it under my lower back and roll myself down to massage my neck and shoulders. It really helps. That said, once I get a knot there, it usually takes a combination of heat/cold, massage, and Advil to make it go away.

 

[spyrosmom]

thanks

Thanks ladies! I'm going to try the one with the 3lb wt and see if that helps. I love my foam roller as well, but everytime I try to do my back, I get my hair stuck underneath it I'm still trying to work out how to hold my hair up high enough and roll my back. Even in a ponytail it gets stuck under. Still working out the technicalities. I got a roller maybe 2 wks ago when the post about them was the hot topic. Been loving it since!!

This morning while I was driving rather uncomfortably to work, I was pondering what I had done to do this to myself, then it dawned on me. I did a BIG stupid. A few weeks back I tweaked my knee and was in a bad bad bad mood that I had to stay off of it. I was scheduled for a full body wt day the next day and when that rolled around I was still pi$$y. So I decided to do upper body, but I was not really feeling into it, and rather than be smart and skip I decided to just do it and get it done. So, even knowing better, I did a quick, heavy (probably bad form) upper body with out a warm up or stretch at the end. And then my back started bugging me. Its my own bullheaded, stubborn, grumpy self that did it to me, but now I can't make it go away!!!

Why is it so easy to DO a stupid, and so hard to UNDO one? And I know better!!!

Nan

 

[mrsmel]

Hi, Nan, I can't answer your last question, but I may be able to help you with the ponytail problem. When you put your hair up, don't pull it all the way through after the last twist. Just pull it partway through and leave the bottom part of your hair in the twistie, or whatever you're using to create the ponytail. I find that works much better than a traditional ponytail, especially when doing floorwork.

Good luck getting rid of your kink! Have you tried Icy Hot cream at night and an Icy Hot patch during the day? That helped me when I had the same problem a few months ago.

anne

 

[kathryn]

Try this series:
1) shrug your shoulders tightly, hold, then let relax down
2)roll your shoulders up, back and around, exaggerating the ROM (these first two will help you loosen up)
3) Clasp your hands behind your back, loosly. One shoulder at a time, lean your head away from the working shoulder (ear towards the other shoulder), roll the shoulder back and down, and when you are in the 'down' position, pull that arm down with the opposite nand. Hold. Tilt your head forward and bit (as if looking down at your armpit) and repeat. Hold.

The dumbell swings Wendy mentioned reminded me of another move:
Lean forward so your upper body is close to parallel with the ground (you can support yourself with one hand on a chair if you want). Loosely swing the working arm in a circle, first clockwise, then counter clockwise. Keep this loose. (You could do this before the series above).

 

[AEHaight66]

I had the same knot awhile back. In addition to the above-mentioned stretched w/ the 3lb dumbbell, I did quite a bit of yoga (you'd be surprised what poses stretch that area!) and it eventually worked itself out. Child's pose helped a lot as did down dog.