Relieving a Stiff Mid-Back

How do I Relieve a Stiff mid-back?

There are a lot of options to help relieve a stiff mid-back!

When it comes to Chiropractic care, we tend to utilize a combination of Chiropractic Adjustments, Soft-Tissue Therapy, and Rehabilitative Exercises to help our patients overcome chronic mid-back stiffness.

However, it’s important to first understand the cause of your mid-back stiffness prior to determining the best approach to resolving it.

What Causes Mid-Back Stiffness?

Long periods of time spent sitting can often result in feeling stiff in the mid-back region, otherwise known as the "thoracic spine".

People who work desk jobs will often complain of mid-back stiffness after hours spent working at their desk or on their computers.

In a more active population, mid-back stiffness can occur from not being able to flex, extend, or rotate through your mid-back well.

For example, in sports like golf, tennis, baseball, and various other “rotational” sports, it’s important to be able to rotate well through your mid-back.

Repetitive actions during these sports, combined with a limited range of motion, can lead to spasmed muscles and irritated joints!

If left unaddressed this stiffness can quickly become persistent and painful, which makes it difficult to focus on work, school, take part in physical activities or perform normal daily tasks.

When should I see a Chiropractor for Back Stiffness?

We always recommend seeing a Chiropractor for back stiffness when it becomes persistent, painful, and before it begins to disrupt your daily activities.

Being proactive about receiving care helps to prevent serious flare ups of pain, which in turn helps to keep you better physically able to perform regular activities of daily life and participate in physical activities without issues.

A thorough assessment can be performed on your first visit, and based on the findings we can begin developing a plan to help you resolve your back stiffness quickly by means of in-office treatments and an at-home exercise program.

This kind of approach not only helps to relieve symptoms quickly, it also helps to educate you on how you can manage things moving forward in an effort to decrease the risk of future injuries!

How do I Relieve Mid-Back Stiffness at Home?

One of our favorite options to help relieve mid-back stiffness is movement!

We love exercises that help to restore normal motion in planes of movement that we don't often get into during our normal daily activities.

In this particular case, thoracic spine rotation is a motion we would greatly benefit from incorporating into our daily routine!

When it comes to thoracic rotation, the "thread the needle" exercise is hard to beat!

This exercise is simple, feels great, and takes less than a few minutes to feel a significant difference.

Check out the video below to learn how to do the "thread the needle" exercise!

If you’re experiencing back stiffness, whether it’s from daily postures or physical activities we’re here to help!

Don’t let your back stiffness get in the way of your active lifestyle for another minute. Book with our Bryn Mawr Chiropractic team today.