This is a 3 exercise sequence that I have given to thousands of military athletes to decompress their upper back and ribcage after prolonged periods of time wearing body armor and/or ruck sack. 

It is simple effective and requires minimal equipment. 

While this article is obviously written to my tactical professionals, anyone you feels like they get jammed up in the upper back will benefit from this routine- that even includes desk workers! 

*There is a link at the end of this article to a YouTube tutorial that will walk you through the entire sequence if you prefer video instruction :)

The first goal is to restore movement to the ribs so ultimately we can restore normal breathing mechanics. 

When the ribcage is locked down, breathing becomes more shallow since our lower ribcage isn't able to expand. Shallow breathing keeps us in fight or flight response which means it is going to be more difficult to relax and loosen up. 

Exercise 1 involves expanding the posterior ribcage. We basically fold ourselves over, reach forward, and pull air deep into the back side of the ribcage. Sometimes you can even get some great back 'pops' just from doing this! Your reps come from breaths here, I recommend about 10 breaths to start. 

Exercise 2 will be similar only we will target the front of the ribcage and we will extend our spine over a fulcrum point. This looks similar to foam rolling your mid back except our focus is more on the breathwork and ribcage expansion. 

As you extend your midback over the fulcrum you will pull air deep into the front of your lower ribcage making those ribs expand up and then out to the side. Hit about 10 reps of these as well. 

Exercise 3 will then finish out the sequence with some dynamic mobility and breathwork getting the entire spine and ribcage moving. 

You will assume a 90/90 position. Take a nice deep inhale, then as you exhale rotate as far as possible looking over shoulder. Once you cannot rotate any further, you will then reach forward. At the bottom of this movement, take another nice deep inhale expanding your entire ribcage 360 degrees. On your exhale, come out of the movement and resume starting position. 

I encourage my tactical professionals to hit this routine as soon as their shift or task is complete and they can remove their load bearing gear. Not only will this help mitigate mid back pain and muscular tension but it will also help the body down regulate by restoring normal breathing mechanics. 

For the full video tutorial click HERE

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions. 

Yours in health, 

-Jamie