The upper back muscles (erector spinae) help you stand erect. By strengthening these muscles, we’re counteracting the rounded posture typical with Parkinson’s.
The back extension exercise I’m demonstrating today not only helps strengthen the upper back to treat Parkinson’s rounded posture, but it also is an integral part of any rotator cuff rehab/prehab exercise program. This exercise strengthens and activates the posterior rotator cuff and scapula (shoulder blade) stabilizers, which is important as shoulder pain is very common in Parkinson’s.
Back Extension Exercise on a Stability Ball
- Lay over the ball with your feet against a wall but still touching the floor, knees are bent, but hovering off the floor. The key here is to have the feet hip-width apart against a wall.
- Hands will be on the ball with elbows bent.
- Get floppy including the head hanging over the ball and take several deep breaths to get comfortable.
- Inhale to prepare as you exhale, begin to roll up starting with the top of your head.
- Roll all the way up one vertebrae at a time until your back is straight keeping your knees bent and feet on wall and toes touching the floor.
- Arms are bent but relaxed and not assisting in the roll up.
- Very important: As you roll up, keep your head and neck in neutral as if to hold a very small ball under your chin, think of looking down your own shirt.
- Imagine putting your shoulder blades in your back pockets.
- Once you are up, slowly reach one arm out in front of your shoulder, thumbs pointing up, then the other arm out. Do not use momentum to raise the arm.
- Slowly return one arm back to starting position, then the other arm back to starting position.
- Starting with your stomach or bottom of ribcage, slowly roll back down including your head to your floppy position.
- Repeat 10 times slowly with good breath work.
If you are in a wheelchair or cannot get on a ball, do a slump and stack. Slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time, then slowly one vertebrae at a time roll back up to neutral spine, sitting up straight.
Do not force through any shoulder pain. You can modify the exercise by reducing range of motion or perform the exercise in a palm-down fashion, if that is more comfortable.