Monday Move
A Simple Stretch to Ease Upper-Back Pain
No time for a whole yoga session? Give this a shot instead.
I am tense right now. There’s a lot going on, the stakes feel high, and the only way out is through — but what that journey looks like IRL is me, sitting in front of my computer almost all day (I do take occasional standing or balance-board breaks!), with my head slowly but surely making its way toward my keyboard as I get more and more exhausted and overwhelmed.
Getting my heart rate up when I can is helping with the general vibe, but my upper back and neck still feel like they’re on the brink of disaster most of the time; one wrong move and I’ll get a crick that’ll make the next few days even harder. So today, when I take a break, I’ll be giving myself a really good upper body stretch. What I won’t be doing is trying to stretch my upper back itself (it’s already overstretched!) — instead, I’ll focus on the muscles in my chest, which get tight and shortened after hunching and tensing up for hours each day. Opening the pectorals allows the scapulae, or shoulder blades, to gently settle back where they belong: back and down on the middle of your back instead of winging out and raising up. This happy-scapula posture also sort of magically makes you feel brighter and more energetic. (Okay, it’s not magic, it’s…
