“Kimberly, my back hurts and I think my posture is getting worse, what can I do?” I get asked this all the time.
As I’ve mentioned in my earlier blog posts on foam roller exercises, Parkinson’s disease causes you to flex forward, creating a host of problems but most certainly back pain. You can use a foam roller to facilitate some great extension improving pain and posture.
Foam rolling is a form of self-myofascial release. In previous posts, I’ve demonstrated myofascial release with soft ball on the chest and feet.
Watch the video below on how you can safely use a foam roller to help with Parkinson’s poor posture:
For this thoracic extension exercise, you can use either the 36 inch or ½ (15 inch) roller. Most people like a medium-firm roller. Melt rollers are great if they don’t squish down too much. I like a sturdier roller myself. This exercise will help stretch out the chest and back muscles, relieve muscular tension in your upper and lower back, improve shoulder range of motion and really improve posture.
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- Start by putting the roller cross ways under your upper back. Start high, just above your shoulder blades.
- Bend knees and keep hips and feet on the ground.
- Bend elbows and place your hands behind your ears with your elbows together.
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- Inhale to prepare and extend your back over the roller keeping your head and neck in neutral and supported position.
- The main objective of foam rolling is to relax the spine over the roller to get mobility in the vertebral joints of the upper back. If you’re just rolling forward and back, you will never actually get mobility in our thoracic spines.
- Stay there 90 seconds or as tolerated, breath!
- Come back to starting position, move the roller down to the next vertebra and exhale while extending over the roller again. The key is relaxing your spine over the roller in several different segments along the thoracic spine.
Caution! Do not roll out your low lumbar spine. The ribs, muscles and shoulder blades of your upper back protect your spine. If you roll your low back the body will sense danger and all the spinal muscles will contract and protect the spine. Once you hit the end of the rib cage, STOP!
What can you do for my low back if you can’t get on the ground to roll it out? Use the same technique by extending back in a chair and hand placement without the roller. Be sure to slowly extend in a controlled manner with big exhale.
