Eric Cressey on Thoracic Spine Mobility
[image courtesy of www.spineuniverse.com]
Last week, the Q & A section of Eric Cressey’s newsletter addressed thoracic spine mobility. (For background on why thoracic spine mobility is a good thing — nay, a great thing — see my Feb. post on the topic, “The Sugar Bowl: Thoracic Spine Mobility.”)
In his letter, Cressey reminded us not to limit ourselves strictly to forward-and-backward movements (such as crunches on two taped-together tennis balls), but to add a rotation component, as well.
The challenge is that adding rotation in the right place can be tough to do. Oftentimes, it’s not the exercise that’s the problem, but the way we do it — we rotate from our lumbar spine (low back) instead of our thoracic spine (mid-back). Simply put, mobility in the thoracic spine is desirable, while mobility in the lumbar and cervical spine are not — stability, not mobility, are the goals of the latter two.
So many of us do certain rotational exercises wrong (scorpions and iron cross, anyone?) that some fitness experts have banned us from doing them at all. (Check out “How Not to Warm Up” and “Is ‘Rotation Training’ Hurting Your Performance?)
I asked Cressey, author of Maximum Strength, a few questions about how to effectively incorporate rotation of the thoracic spine and minimize rotation of the lumbar spine. See his answers below.
Jen Sinkler (JS): How do you incorporate thoracic spine rotation safely? That is, if I’m already hypermobile in my lumbar spine and immobile in my thoracic spine, how do I ensure that rotation during an exercise isn’t occurring lower than intended?
Eric Cressey (EC): I will actually get in and put my hand at the lower thoracic spine on athletes when they do this the first few times. Basically, I cue them to “hinge” around my hand. [JS addendum: Physical therapist and author Shirley Sahrmann instructs athletes to “think about the motion occurring in the area of the chest.”]
JS: What kind of exercises incorporate thoracic spine rotation?
EC: There are a bunch on Mike Robertson’s and Bill Hartman’s Inside-Out DVD, but quadruped extension-rotation and side-lying extension-rotation are two we use a lot. We also use a seated broomstick t-spine extension-rotation.
JS: What are a few of the best exercises for shoring up the lumbar spine so it becomes immovable?
EC: Basically, anything that imposes a destabilizing torque on a stationary lumbar spine. So, side/prone bridges (gravity does the job), Pallof Presses, tall/half-kneeling cable chop variations, landmines, etc.
Google ‘em. Or, if you’re not in the mood, check out this thoracic rotation exercise demonstrated by Michael Boyle, founder of
www.strengthcoach.com.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I should do more of this. My thoracic area sucks.