At home Thoracic Spine PAILS/RAILS
One of the common issues that I see with individuals who sit for prolonged periods, excessively travel, or simply those who work at a desk for the majority of the day, are symptoms of a stiff mid-back.
This exercise is for those who want to relieve stiffness in just a few short minutes by simply using a doorway or a squat rack, and a foam roller.
Through your own personal assessment, you can identify the area(s) that require expansion of range of motion (ROM) in order to best customize this exercise for you.
Before setting up, lay down on your back and make sure you can reach the rack or door frame with your hands. Now place the foam roller underneath you at the region that requires expansion of ROM in your spine. Imagine the foam roller as the fulcrum point, and it will guide the vertebrae into extension. The hands come behind the head to support the neck. Use the foam roller to provide extension at the selected vertebrae that you want to “bow the stretch”. Now allow yourself to sink deeper into the stretch using gravity as an assist. Hold for 2 minutes while performing diaphragmatic breathing to calm the nervous system, encourage end range capacity, and stimulate cellular activity.
Now, on to the good stuff….
Release your hands and place on the wall or squat rack to provide the PAILS contraction. Begin to make tension with your body and ramp up gradually to your greatest, safest effort by “crunching” at the area in front of the vertebrae you wish to expand. This movement should be barely visible to a viewer. Hold for 10-15 seconds and then release the contraction gradually. You can perform a RAILS contraction by placing hands behind the head and extend and actively pull deeper into the stretch. Try not to extend the entire spine over the roller, rather, only at the point of the specific vertebrae. Fatigue and cramping will occur if you are doing this correctly! After the RAILS contraction, use gravity to assist into your new end range of motion and hold there enough time to recover.
Perform this 3-5 times for ultimate relief!
