My hubby has a lot of trouble with lack of mobility and range of movement in his shoulders and upper back. He can't get his arms flat to the floor or back to touch the ground with this exercise. We did something called PNF (Preproprioseptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) stretching in my course which is where I can aid him in getting a little further each time he does the exercise.

I hope you give the exercise a go Jo and that it helps, let me know how you go.

I will put some more exercises on over the next few days.

Marion

Hey Marion,

As one who sites at a computer all day I suffer a lot of back/neck/shoulder pain...I love to do the "racing turtle" position at my desk...you know neck out and up..often without even knowing.

I'm definitely going to give this exercise a go, but not right now..its late and its time for bed.

Please keep the exercises coming.

Cheers Jo

Hi, most of you probably don't know but I'm a qualified personal trainer and I thought it might be a good thing to put an exercise on here now and again.

Anyone with stiffness in the shoulder and upper back area might want to give this exercise a go.

To start, lay down on your back so that the whole body is on the ground looking up at the ceiling.

Extend the arms out straight to the sides of the body so that they are perpendicular to the torso and parallel with one another at shoulder height while still on the ground.

Next, bend your elbows so that your forearms come off the ground pointing straight up to the ceiling leaving your upper arm firmly pressed still against the ground.

Now, while keeping the upper arm and elbow firmly against the ground, slowly rotate the shoulders back while bringing the bent arms down to the floor (close to the sides of the head), keeping the 90degree bend in the elbow.

Do your best to bring them all the way to the floor so that the entire arm and hand is against the floor, and hold.

This will loosen up your chest and shoulders, improve your ability to rotate at the shoulder, open up your back flexibility and slowly improve your spinal posture.

Marion