5 Exercises to Relieve a Stiff or Painful Mid Back

Exercises To Help A Sore Thoracic Spine:

Mid-back soreness and stiffness is often quite easy to improve yourself. The majority of problems in this area come from sitting in a slumped posture. This causes the vertebrae to become jammed up (which then causes muscle tightness). These 5 exercises focus mainly on mobilising the spine… and they relax the muscles too.

NOTE: Always remember to be aware of the cause! Sit in supportive chairs and always move your pelvis back as far as you can when you sit down, to avoid to the flexed position that causes these problems.

There are other causes of lower thoracic pain and stiffness. The second most common cause is a bed that’s too soft or too hard, but you can actually get referred pain from the abdominal organs (for example gall stones can give you mid-back pain) so if any pain hangs around, get it checked out by a professional.

As usual, don’t do any of these exercises if they hurt—It’s not no pain, no gain!

 

MID-BACK EXERCISES

1. Thoracic Extension Stretch

Always start off with this exercise because the other exercises will be more effective after this one. You may have seen this one before in my lower back pain video—because mid back restriction can cause lower back pain too—but today I’m going to give you a variation too.

Roll a doubled-up towel on a slight angle so it’s a bit tapered at the ends and about fist sized. Lay back over it so your head is slightly lower than your midback, and make certain you bend your legs. Then support your head with the tapered end of the towel or another folded towel so you’re looking at the ceiling, not behind you when you relax.

You should feel the pressure of the rolled towel in your mid back where the spine curves out, NOT the lower back where the spine curves in. If it’s uncomfortable roll the towel a bit smaller or looser.

Lay there for a minute with your arms out, then try this variation: Start with your arms vertical, breathe in, then lower your arms slowly as you exhale. Repeat this 10 times.

2. Modified Cat-Cow

Exercise 2 is a variation of an exercise for your lower back, but designed to target the lower mid back more. Instead of a traditional cat-cow exercise with the shoulders above the hands and hips above the knees, we start off with our pelvis further back. This flexes the lower back a bit so that when we go down, the movement is isolated more in the thoracic spine. Put your elbows on the floor about forearm distance from your knees and go up and down ten times slowly… head coming up as the body comes down and the vice versa. Keep your chin down, not right up as the head comes back.

This exercises not only mobilises the spinal joint it also causes some “reciprocally inhibition”. This means that as you lift your back, you contract your abdominal muscles and this has a relaxation and loosening effect on tight mid back muscles.

Go up and down ten times slowly and then at the end you can add some side to side motion in the down position to mobilise the spinal joints further.

Another variation is with your hands close to your knees. Just do whichever variation feels best to you.

3. Thoracic Rotation

Next let’s throw in some lower thoracic rotation, to make sure we get movement in every plane of motion. Starting face up, drop one knee down to the floor, place one hand on top of it, then stretch the other arm back the other way. Look in the same direction as the extended arm to create a continuous spiral of rotation in one direction. Relax and hold for 20 seconds, then do the other side.

4. Active Mini Cobra

Exercise four is the mini cobra but an active version. Face down, raise your body up onto your elbows and hold it there a moment to check to see that it doesn’t hurt your lower back. If the lower back feels sore in this position, skip this exercise, but it if feels good, make sure your chin is tucked in, not up, and then gently sway the pelvis from side to side. Do this for about 20 seconds.

5. Active Thoracic Extension

Exercises 5 is a good one if you want to target a little higher up spine—more between the shoulder blades. And there’s three options. With one foot forward, toes almost touching the wall, put your hands behind you head, intertwining the fingers at the base of the skull. Then slide the elbows up the wall, hold for a few seconds and slide back down. There’s a nerve near the elbow on the inside here, so it if feels a bit sensitive… try not to press too hard against the wall with your elbows and keep the elbows closer together. Repeat 5-10 times slowly.

In the variations, we don’t slide the elbows, we move the body instead. Either with the elbows on a chair, or on the floor. Don’t do all three, that’d be a bit much, just choose the one that feels the best.

 

Is your pain further down? Check out my video on exercises to help the lower back.