Upper back · Core
Seated thoracic rotation
Mobility · Seated
- How to do it
- Sit tall with feet planted. Rotate the mid-back to look over one shoulder, then the other. Keep the hips quiet, don’t twist from the low back.
- Dose
- 6 reps · each side
- What you should feel
- An easy twist through your mid-back
- Common mistake
- Twisting from the low back or yanking with the arms.
- Make it easier
- Rotate a little less far and keep your hands on your thighs.
- Avoid this movement if
- Rotation causes sharp back pain.
- Why DeskBreak uses it
- Rotation is the range the upper back loses first when you face one screen all day.
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)