Helloooo MOT family! Karen here, and today I will be providing you with my 3 favorite exercises to help promote mobility and provide a nice stretch to our bodies that we did not know we needed, especially men… put them on the line to join this conversation. Let’s get started!
The first stretch is called a Tabletop knee drop. What a silly name, right? This is a great stretch to help alleviate some tension in the lower back and can be progressed to target the core muscles which are important to provide us with some stability. This is a dynamic stretch, meaning that you aren’t providing a stretch to a certain muscle group for a duration of time but rather having your body move through the stretch.
You will start by laying on your back, your knees are bent to 90 degrees in the air, hence the tabletop position, with your arms out to the side. From there your knees will slowly drop from one side to another, alternating to both sides. Always make sure your back stays flat and your core stays engaged while your knees fall to the ground and come back up.
Latissimus Stretch: Do you notice that you have a hard time reaching your back? Do you find it hard to scratch that one spot? Do you need someone to come and scratch it for you? If yes, then this next stretch is great for you. This exercise helps with improving shoulder mobility and improving internal rotation, which is the movement that the shoulder needs to do to reach behind.
Latissimus Dorsi, also known as the Lats, is one of the muscles whose job is to perform internal rotation. In order to stretch it, you will use a chair; elbows will be propped on there and you will scoot your knees back and sit back into your hips and drop the back down. You will feel a stretch into the shoulder blade and up along the side of the back.
Last but not least, the Median nerve glide. Have you ever experienced what feels like electricity going down your hand into your fingers? Are your fingers, hands, forearm or even shoulder falling asleep, feeling numbness and tingling? Then this stretch may be great for you. The median nerve may sometimes need help with movement and be presented as irritated and angry. An analogy is “dental floss.” Floss needs to be able to glide and slide in between your teeth, well the same applies to the median nerve
Here we want our elbow, wrist, and fingers to be extended (straight) and your neck will be bent towards the arm that is being stretched. From there you are going to flex, meaning bending your hand, wrist, and elbow as you bend your neck away. You may feel some numbness and tingling as a result of the tension that you are applying. With that being said, you want to do this about 5 times, holding each in the position for about 3 seconds as nerves don’t like sustained holds.
Hope you find these stretches helpful, and next time you hear your significant other, brother, father, neighbor, anyone really complaining of low back, upper back, and shoulder pain, you can now say that you learned a great stretch for that!
Nice chatting with you… until next time!
-Much love,
Karen, SPT
These videos/photos are meant to be educational and instructional. They are not able to diagnose or treat a specific issue and are definitely not a substitute for a professional evaluation.
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