Mid Back Tension

[cscreative]

I've been doing a lot of scapular strengthening & mobility drills lately which is causing a lot of tension in my mid and upper back. Can anybody suggest some good compensations to ease tension in the Trapezius and Rhomboids?

I've been using Spider Monkey flow and Ball Rolling with Rabbit, Camel, Tripod and Wheel Poses but I'm still pretty stiff.

Would welcome any advice.

[John B]

Craig,

Spinal Rocks can certainly be of benefit here (think Be Breathed). Focus on your exhalation. Two poses that have always helped me are Cat (let your head relax/go, play with working knees closer to hands as you get more comfortable) and Plow (modified, knees bent and relaxed towards shoulders, don't take your weight above your shoulder blades). Focus on exhaling and "letting go".

How much force are you applying to your scapular mobility work? The drills should work towards relieving tension, not laying in more. Check on your breath. How relaxed is it? Is it leading your movement? How nonchalant are you able to perform the drills?

What types of strengthening drills are you performing?

[cscreative]

Thanks for your reply John.

I guess I should first point out Scap strengthening is hard and tiring for me because I have a muscular dystrophy (FSHD) which causes scapular winging and weakness.
To outline my current routine, I've been doing the following daily for the past 2 weeks. Every other day I've been adding 15 mins of a modified Spider Monkey Flow and See Saw Flow at the end.

1. Full Body Intu-Flow
2. 4 corner balance drills
3. Spinal rocks - basic then pike (nearly ready to add in straddles)
4. Resistance Band Scap Strengthening (3 sets of 20) (focus on scap retraction and mid back contraction through out)
- (from a standing position) 2 hand row to reverse pulldown to a lateral raise arcing back to arms extended in front
- 1 arm diagonal pull from shoulder to hip with external rotation
5. Scap Mobility
- scap pushups
- overhead straight arm pulldowns
- TACGYM healing staff

Since the strengthening exercises are targeting muscles that are quite weak in me I'm working pretty hard to get through all the sets and reps keeping a good structure. Breathing is at a Discipline Level for the strengthening exercises and Flow level for mobility.

I'll definitely add in Cat Pose and I'll try the modified Plow you suggest. I get release doing a Plow dynamically such as the spinal rock pike but I tend to feel strained across the top of my shoulders/ traps if I hold it for a length of time with straight legs.