Shoulders · Upper back
Doorway or wall chest opener
Mobility · Seated or standing
- How to do it
- Place a forearm on a doorframe or wall at about shoulder height. Gently turn your chest away until you feel a stretch across the front of the shoulder and chest.
- Dose
- 25s · each side
- What you should feel
- The front of your chest and shoulder opening
- Common mistake
- Leaning so hard the front of the shoulder hurts.
- Make it easier
- Keep the arm lower and the stretch lighter.
- Avoid this movement if
- You have had a recent shoulder injury or the stretch causes sharp pain.
- Why DeskBreak uses it
- Opens the front of the chest and shoulder after hours of reaching forward to a keyboard.
Stop this movement if it causes sharp or worsening pain, numbness, weakness or dizziness.
Evidence
General movement principle.
- Effectiveness of workplace interventions in the prevention of upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders and symptoms: an update of the evidence (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2016)