COMMON SENSE STRETCHING EXERCISE
Have you got back-ache? Do you have neck or shoulder pain/tension, or headaches
(a big contributing factor to any of these symptoms is poor posture)?
Do you have Wrist ache, Tennis Elbow, Golfers Elbow or RSI (a big contributing factor to any of these symptoms is tense/achey shoulders)? Is your posture NOT good; do you slouch; are you round-shouldered (do you spend all day sat in front of a computer)?
One of the most effective and natural ways of freeing up your shoulders, improving your posture and helping with back-ache is hanging by your arms!
Like apes, we are still meant to have the ability to swing from tree to tree! Most of us could do it when we were kids, but then we gave up!
If you haven’t swung by your arms for years then don’t suddenly start doing it! However, just hanging by both arms from a comfortable support is WELL within our capabilities. Assuming your shoulders and spine are not already “seriously” damaged, hanging provides a VERY strong and NATURAL stretch for your shoulders, spine and “lumbar” and “lower thoracic” discs.
The SAFEST way to do this is to hang from a bar that you can easily reach with your feet still on the floor (the EASIEST way todo this is to install a “chin-up bar” or “chinning-bar” in a doorway at home or at work – a range of these are available at about £15 each from sport-shops, Argos, Amazon?). Best not to hang from a door-frame, door top or picture rail; if it is not a comfortable handgrip you will not be able to relax and get the full benefit.
I am NOT recommending doing “chin-ups” or anything very strenuous; just relaxed hanging with your palms facing forwards. If you have not hung like this for years, if you are overweight or if you have weak or injured shoulders, wrists or elbows, just hang gently
at first, keeping your feet on the floor and just bending your legs so you are not putting your full weight on the bar, for around 5 seconds per day for the first few days to give your shoulders and back a chance to get used to the stretch.
If your shoulders are uncomfortable when you hang, try NOT to stop doing it. Just be very careful and don’t put your full weight on straight away, but if you don’t improve the stretching of your shoulders by getting on with it, then over time they will seize up! If you regularly give your shoulders a serious stretch, then even when there is damage they will stay more mobile!
When your shoulders are comfortable with your hanging, slowly change to hanging with your legs relaxed and keep your feet resting limply on the floor, preferably behind you so that you are allowing your full weight to pull through your shoulders, and hang for 5 (or more?) seconds. Do NOT pick your feet off the floor as this will mean you are tensing your spinal and abdominal muscles and this will prevent your lower spine from getting the full stretch benefit. At first you will probably only feel the stretch in your shoulders, but as your shoulders get more used to hanging and you relax fully you will feel the stretch reaching down to the base of your spine. Like your shoulders, if your lower back is uncomfortable when you hang, try NOT to stop doing it. And I recommend that you DO NOT actually hang anywhere where your feet cannot reach the ground, as stretching your discs and then dropping down to the ground (which would suddenly re-compress your discs) could damage a disc that may have already been weakened by earlier injury.
If you have never seriously stretched your spine on a regular basis, then as you get older your discs will be compressed and thinned down, making them less flexible and then your spinal vertebrae move closer together and may then start rubbing together in a way that will cause arthritis. This leaves less room for your “peripheral” nerves to pass out from your spinal chord through the spaces between your vertebrae and this pressure on the nerves can cause pain, numbness, tingling or pins and needles in the legs and feet.
Once you have got going comfortably with this, when you are hanging, twist or rock your pelvis (you might hear/feel your spine click and release – this really makes tense muscles relax) and I recommend that you “seriously stretch” every day for the rest of your life? That’s not asking too much is it?
If you experience strong back pain when hanging or if you have a serious existing spinal problem, don’t use this exercise without firstconsulting with a back-pain specialist??
If you spend your day sitting at a desk, you could ask your workplace to consider putting up some sort of “hanging structure” – prolonged sitting is, these days, the biggest cause of time off work.
John Fudge
Pain Treatment Specialist
If you have any queries please email me, text me or call me.
. 07949 115205