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November 23, 2011

“Three Amigos” upper back stretch, computer middle back pain

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Named in homage to the the movie of the same name, this little exercise is absolutely fantastic for the neck, middle, and upper back, and is fast and easy to do after any bends that tend to tighten these areas. It is a perfect antidote to hours spent at the computer!

Many people's instinctive dislike of upper and middle back extension come from the natural (though uncomfortable) tendency of the muscles on either side of the spine to cramp when the spine is extended.

And for the same reason, this is a great exercise to use while working at the computer, too, just because typing and reading (especially on a laptop) tends to tighten these same muscles. Try it: you'll like it!

Read transcription

Kit:

Some of you may remember a really fantastic comedy called The Three Amigos and we've named this next pose after the Three Amigos because of their signature movement, their bonding movement. But anyway, this is what our pose looks like, and it's an absolutely brilliant stretch for the lower neck, the upper back, and the middle back. And it's particularly good to do after any backward bending. And this is what it looks like. The first thing to do is to tuck the tail, that movement we practiced before. Now notice when I say tuck the tail, I'm not leaning backwards. I'm only moving this part of the body like this, tuck the tail, and you do that by bending the knees slightly and using the bottom muscles to tuck the tail underneath like this.



Kit:

Then you put your chin on your chest like this, you put your hands together, straighten the arms, push them straight down the body and take a breath in, and on a breath out, watch this. And then once you're in that position, you can add a little sideways lean if you want to, that'll move the focus of the stretch around a little bit, and to come out simply take ... oh, that just feels absolutely fantastic. It's also a brilliant stretch to use if you're working at the computer for hours, because it stretches out ... in fact, I'll turn away and do that exercise again so you can see which part of the middle back that really stretches.


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