Blog 21 12th September 2016
Shoulders, and how to get rid of the knot behind….
I trust that you are looking at the life/work balance and adjusting accordingly.
Today is about shoulders, the ribs and rhomboids behind. What I have found in my practice is that people want to roll on a tennis ball for the spot between the shoulder blade and the spine. This is the rhomboid muscle which attaches the spine and the blade. Unfortunately no amount of rolling, pushing and poking will get rid of it. What it actually is, is the third or fourth rib has been strained and pulled forward. While we lean forward over the keyboard and towards the computer the shoulder girdle drops forward and rests on the rib cage.
What can happen is the fingers can go numb especially the last 3 fingers. You can notice this when holding a book, or driving. What occurs is the shoulders go forward and the ribs have to support the shoulder girdle instead of engaging the back and shoulder muscles to hold up the shoulder girdle. The weight of the shoulder then pulls down on the nerve that goes from the spine to the hand. Tingling or numbness can happen until you move your body to a more upright posture. The nerve is then not squashed and can run through without a kink. NO amount of rolling on the rib with a tennis ball will make it go away. It might release endorphins and feel great for a little while (a bit like rolling the IT band on the side of the thigh) but alas it does not solve the issue.
What can help is a better posture and stronger back however there are a couple of self-care ortho-bionomy® exercises that can help prevent this from happening.
1. Standing up with your arms out in front at shoulder level, palms face up.
2. Breathe in whilst pulling your hand towards the chest, elbows bent and pointing the elbows out at shoulder level.
3. Breathe out as the hands go back to the original starting point.
4. Repeat 6 times. Once a day is often enough.
The next exercise can be executed sitting down at the desk, easy and only once at a time.
1. Sit on the sit bones on the chair.
2. Breathing out bring the arms around and over, meeting the backs of the hands together between the knees.
3. Keeping the back curved as if there is a netball on your lap.
4. Breathe in and bring your hand/arms up and straight out to the sides, shoulder level and palms up.
5. Head tilted slightly back so throat is straight.
6. Hold your breath for as long as you feel comfortable then hands turn down and the arms come straight down by your sides.
What this does is it repositions the shoulders back into the girdle where they ideally should be. Once is enough at a time. If stuck at your desk for a long time perhaps twice or three times in the day.
Try them and see whether the tingling stops or resets the ribs back to their preferred position.
Shoulders, and how to get rid of the knot behind….
I trust that you are looking at the life/work balance and adjusting accordingly.
Today is about shoulders, the ribs and rhomboids behind. What I have found in my practice is that people want to roll on a tennis ball for the spot between the shoulder blade and the spine. This is the rhomboid muscle which attaches the spine and the blade. Unfortunately no amount of rolling, pushing and poking will get rid of it. What it actually is, is the third or fourth rib has been strained and pulled forward. While we lean forward over the keyboard and towards the computer the shoulder girdle drops forward and rests on the rib cage.
What can happen is the fingers can go numb especially the last 3 fingers. You can notice this when holding a book, or driving. What occurs is the shoulders go forward and the ribs have to support the shoulder girdle instead of engaging the back and shoulder muscles to hold up the shoulder girdle. The weight of the shoulder then pulls down on the nerve that goes from the spine to the hand. Tingling or numbness can happen until you move your body to a more upright posture. The nerve is then not squashed and can run through without a kink. NO amount of rolling on the rib with a tennis ball will make it go away. It might release endorphins and feel great for a little while (a bit like rolling the IT band on the side of the thigh) but alas it does not solve the issue.
What can help is a better posture and stronger back however there are a couple of self-care ortho-bionomy® exercises that can help prevent this from happening.
1. Standing up with your arms out in front at shoulder level, palms face up.
2. Breathe in whilst pulling your hand towards the chest, elbows bent and pointing the elbows out at shoulder level.
3. Breathe out as the hands go back to the original starting point.
4. Repeat 6 times. Once a day is often enough.
The next exercise can be executed sitting down at the desk, easy and only once at a time.
1. Sit on the sit bones on the chair.
2. Breathing out bring the arms around and over, meeting the backs of the hands together between the knees.
3. Keeping the back curved as if there is a netball on your lap.
4. Breathe in and bring your hand/arms up and straight out to the sides, shoulder level and palms up.
5. Head tilted slightly back so throat is straight.
6. Hold your breath for as long as you feel comfortable then hands turn down and the arms come straight down by your sides.
What this does is it repositions the shoulders back into the girdle where they ideally should be. Once is enough at a time. If stuck at your desk for a long time perhaps twice or three times in the day.
Try them and see whether the tingling stops or resets the ribs back to their preferred position.