How to Help Your Tight Back

I know far too many people with tight backs. Tight lower backs, tight upper traps, knots behind the shoulder blades, tight mid-back, SI joint discomfort. Tight everywhere backs.

Everyone has a tight back for a different reason. For some it’s because they sit all day, for others it’s because they stand all day. Someone else might have a tight pelvic floor, causing limited him mobility, causing too much work being put on the spine. For others it might be a posture they hold themselves in all day or having to carry heavy kids all day.

This makes it hard (let’s be honest, impossible) to come up with a one-size-fits all solution. And it’s also why those “try this one exercise to fix your back” type of posts on social media don’t work.

So here is my best advice, and what this blog post will cover: work on spinal mobility & strength, and practice back opening breathing exercises.

Here is the methodology I use to help my clients improve their tight backs.

1. Spinal mobility & strength - I think of spinal mobility as getting you to move your spine in all directions. Your spine is made up of joints and it’s designed to flex, extend, rotate, and laterally bend. I think of spinal strength as creating strong & supple muscles that support these movements. Strong & supple muscles are the opposite of tight muscles!

2. Back opening breathing exercises - do you know what is attached to your spine? You rib cage & diaphragm muscle. Do you know what you do upwards of 22,000 times a day? Breathe. Do you know what moves with every single breath you take? Your ribs, diaphragm, and spine. You can make a significant impact on spinal mobility & comfort through breathing.

First, let’s talk about spinal mobility and strength & the ways in which the spine can move.

The image below shows the types of movements of the spine. Each image comes with an exercise. I have provided YouTube video examples of each exercise after the image. These exercises are a great place to start, but the possibilities are nearly endless for spinal mobility and strength.

Hint: If you do these movements with complete control and to your maximum range, then you are building mobility & strength at the same time.

Jefferson curl for spinal flexion - start with no weight first, and slowly work your way up. In 6 weeks of consistency, I went from 16 lbs to 40 lbs without a single back ache, twinge, or discomfort!

Spinal extension ball crunch - this is a great way to start small and supported for spinal extension, but my wish for you is you take this so much further. Here is a way more advanced version of a spinal extension exercise you could try; bench pullover with hip drop.

Banded thoracic rotation - never underestimate the value in rotating your spine. You can simply this with an adductor stretch with thoracic rotation, or make this variation more difficult by lifting your knees.

Banded side bend w/ adduction for lateral flexion - don’t forget to bend sideways! It’s easy to forget this movement pattern in our training. A way more advanced version is this split stance isometric with a side bend.

Second, let’s talk about breathing exercises.

I could talk about breathing exercises all day, but for this blog post I am just going to give you some of my favorite breathing exercises for a tight back.

If you want more in depth info on breathing, check out this blog post on the importance of breathing.

Here are three breathing exercises for a tight back. For all exercises, perform 2-3 sets of 6-10 breaths in this position. Long slow inhale through the nose (6-8 seconds) and slow sighing exhale like you’re fogging a mirror until all of the air is out.

• Inverted rockback w/ yoga block - This exercise is great for opening up the midback (around where the thoracic meets the lumbar spine) and the posterior pelvic floor. The yoga block helps compress the front of the abdomen & rib cage, so pressure and expansion is forced more into the back ribs. This area is tight on almost everyone I work with!

• Inverted child’s pose yoga block breathing - This exercise is amazing for finding pelvic floor length. When you inhale, your pelvic floor should lengthen & relax. Putting yourself in this position compresses the front of your body and most of your back, and tilts your pelvis to put your pelvic floor in an optimal position for expansion. Did you know that your pelvic floor needs to be able to length as much as it needs to be able to contract (kegel)? Check out this blog post (to kegel or not to kegel) for more info.

• Shoulder Flexion Stretch & Breathing - This combines 2 things most of us need; more shoulder flexion/thoracic extension and breathing. The key to this exercise is to exhale as you move, then take a good 3-5 second pause to inhale before moving again. You want to take breaths at your “end-ranges” to get some rib cage expansion in both positions.

The last puzzle piece to helping your tight back..

I’m confident spinal mobility, strength, and breathing exercises will help your tight back, but there’s one more thing you can’t forget. You need to work on your total body strength & mobility, as well. Because your entire body is connected.

The best thing you can do is create or follow robust programming that includes these concepts all in one.

I like to start every workout with 2-3 targeted breathing exercises and then sneak these spinal mobility & strength exercises into my overall strength & mobility workouts.

If you need help with this, know that I have my Functional Empowered Fitness Membership with lots of programs that do all of the thinking for you. I have programs for pregnancy, postpartum, busy moms, strength & conditioning, and more. You can find out more about the FEF Membership here.

If you found this blog post helpful & want to learn a little bit more, check out my free “How to Optimize Your Core Training” e-book at the link below.