3 Upper Back Stretches that will Change your Life.

Change your life!? Bold, I know. But hear me out – it’s not so much the exact exercises I will share with you that are life-changing, but the strategy behind them.

In other words, once you understand the WHY behind these 3 stretches, you will forever change how you stretch your upper back.

True transformation comes when you have a deeper knowledge of what your body needs to move better. Not from scouring the internet for that one perfect stretch that will allegedly fix your upper back stiffness.

This post is not very long so I recommend you take a few minutes to carefully read the section before the stretches to get the most value out of this article.

How to Stretch your Upper Back

It’s easier to understand a concept once you familiarize yourself with its opposite. So, let’s first examine how NOT to stretch the upper back. And it is the way most people stretch.

They look for a stretch that will “loosen” a tight muscle in the back. The intention is to find a stretch that directly targets the tight muscle.

The problem with this approach is that just because a muscle feels tight does not mean it is tight. A sensation of tightness can mean many things – weakness, imbalance or poor load distribution, to name a few.

This is why you constantly have to stretch the same muscle. You’re focusing on a symptom (the sensation of tightness) but not addressing the actual problem.

What I recommend you do instead is focus on movement. Movement includes stretching but it also involves building strength, mobility and skill. A body that moves with more ease and comfort will feel less tight than one that doesn't.

With this strategy, you troubleshoot how your upper back moves through its main ranges of motion. This includes flexion, extension and side bending. The spine moves in even more ways but if you improve these 3 movements, you will be off to a great start.

In the below section, I will share 3 exercises that target each of these movement patterns.

Stretches for the Upper Back

The first stretch is one that most of us need the most. Most of our daily activities require us to hunch over into spinal flexion so spending time in spinal extension will make a huge difference in how your back feels.

This exercise is a stretch but it is also a way to explore how well your upper back tolerates extension. Do things feel stiff and rigid? Or is it relatively easy to arch the spine through its various segments?

The set-up might be a little tricky at first but I promise you it’s worth it. Experiment with a few different set ups until you start feeling the spine and shoulders open up.

I recommend keeping the set-up prepared if possible so you don’t have to rearrange your furniture every time you want to do this stretch. This is one you can pop into throughout the day so this might also encourage you to practice more often.

The next upper back stretch will target side-bending. This is another movement that most modern computer-using adults are limited in. Take your time with this one and don’t take too much range the first few times you do it.

I recommend caution because all of these movements require control through the entire range of motion. You might be able to bend far down on the descent but can you come back up with control?

A sure-fire way to get injured is to force your body into ranges of motion it cannot control. Range and competence will come with consistency. 

The last upper back movement you will target is spinal flexion. An easy way to target this movement is through the cat/cow but with a slight modification - I recommend you stay in the “cat” position for a few seconds longer than you're used to. 

Movement skill comes from comfortably entering and exiting positions, not just hanging out in them for long periods of time. This is the common denominator in all of the exercises in this article.

You’re not just passively holding positions but you’re coming in and out of them. Your body craves movement, not static positions. Most of us get enough stagnation in our day-to-day lives.

Closing Thoughts

The 3 exercises in this article are 3 very good upper back stretches. They’ve been a part of my practice for years. But they are not gospel.

There is no perfect exercise or stretch, just what works for you at a certain point in your practice. What matters much more than the stretch you select is the intention behind the selection.

Are you trying to get rid of tightness or improve how you move? With the former, you continue down the hamster wheel of perpetual stretching. With the latter, you build the foundation for a lifetime of movement resilience.