This episode focuses on the anterior fascial chain which goes from the thumb and palm of one hand, across the abdomen and down the inner thigh of the opposite leg—read: your obliques! Most adult bodies don’t really remember how to twist correctly, and instead, use their shoulders/neck to twist and not their core oblique muscles. In this video, we’ll massage and stretch all the areas that are overworking and then re-activate the under-working core musculature.
The first place to stretch and massage is the pec minor and major. This area is perhaps the most important for shoulder impingements as these muscles are contracted all day as we type/drive and do anything with our arms held in front of us. Yes, scroll thumb also applies here. There’s also a bicep stretch where your goal is to have your hands behind you with your pinkys touching—a simple towel will do as a prop.
We then travel up the chain to the face and neck for a self-lymphatic face massage. Then tend to muscles in the sides and front of neck that get testy with chronic jaw tension.
Moving downward, we look at using your hand to release your groin—the pesky pectineus as I like to call it, which can mirror the tension in the pec minor. Both of these muscles deeply pull the ball and socket joints inward to the fetal position. So, if you struggle with the hunched position and/or sleep in the fetal position, you’ll want to take some time to do this release with the follow up abdomen stretch to restore some space to your mid-section. You’ll not only feel longer afterward, you’ll probably feel leaner too!
The goal of these videos is not to just stretch and release, but to also remind your brain of what it should be using more. In this case, it’s your obliques. The ‘exercise’ in this video activates those and also emphasizes the eccentric load on your pecs and inner thighs. When we’re tensed into this crunched, poor posture position, we become a little ball with T-Rex arms in the extreme; meaning the pecs and inner thighs are only strong when they’re close to our torso. In this movement, we’re trying to make big motions with these joints to remind those areas they have way more they can do.
And finally, we activate the front of the shoulder (not the chest) as it often is under-utilized. Important cues here are to keep your elbows straight—no T-Rex and to feel like you’re lifting your arms in water, meaning nice and slow. If this motion bugs the shoulder, try a different angle. You can also play with different wrist positions to hit the different aspects of this muscle.
Hope you find these stretches and movements helpful for your shoulder pain!