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Have you ever felt like your “upper back” is stiff or do you notice that your arms are swing across your body when you run? This can be due to a “tight” thoracic spine. The thoracic spine is located between the neck (cervical spine) and the low back (lumbar spine).
The Anatomy
The cervical spine has seven vertebrae, the thoracic spine has 12 vertebrae and the lumbar spine has five vertebrae. Here is a great image in case you are a visual person.
You can see how the thoracic spine might impact your arm swing simply based on location. Now take it one step further and consider that the ribs have multiple muscles attached to the thoracic spine with numerous nerves that stem from this area. Making the thoracic spine very important for body system regulation (ie. breathing, core temperature) and overall musculoskeletal balance.
Importance of Thoracic Mobility
Having good mobility above and below any joint is important for proper functioning. In other words, having good motion of the thoracic spine can help positively impact low back or neck pain. It can also improve your arm swing during running, which is important for your propulsion forward. Having good forward propulsion can also improve your overall efficiency with running and energy expenditure. You need the arms to move so that momentum can be created between the upper and lower body. When running, you also need rotation through the spine to allow the pelvis and shoulders to move in the opposite direction.
Last but not least, having good thoracic mobility also improves your breathing. This occurs because your diaphragm is able to expand. Since we know that the ribs are connected to the thoracic spine, if you have tightness in the thoracic spine, the ribs have a harder time expanding, allowing for full expansion of the lungs.
During inhalation (breathing in) the thoracic spine extends, rib cage and lungs expand and the diaphragm descends. During exhalation (breathing out), the lungs and ribs retract, the thoracic spine flexs and the diaphragm contracts or ascends.
How to Imporve Thoracic Mobility
There are multiple ways to improve the mobility of the spine.
You can use a foam roller and roll throughout the upper back region to help with the soft tissue.
Do exercises to help open up the ribcage and the thoracic spine, some examples are: Reach and Roll and open books.
Reach and Roll
Half Kneeling Open Books
Work on breathing, utilizing the diaphragm to work properly and decrease the amount we breathe through our chest utilizing all the accessory breathing muscles.
Ensuring that you have good thoracic mobility can improve your running efficiency, breathing and help decrease your chance of other injuries from occurring above or below. Practicing thoracic mobility daily can help mitigate the “stiffness” we might feel from sitting at the computer too long, holding a baby, driving a car or working.
Feel free to make an appointment at Precision for a full gait analysis or get a “tune up” to improve your running and learn some cool exercises to put in your tool bag!
Happy Running!
Dr. Noelle O’Hara PT, DPT
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