Middle Back Stretches

Stretching exercises benefit you in a number of ways. They increase the flexibility and range of motion of the joints. Secondly, they improve the over-all posture of your body. Thirdly, stretching exercises promote circulation of blood through the body parts under their effect. Fourthly, they act as stress busters. They stretch the tight, tense and stiff muscles. Last but not the least, stretching exercises enhance brain's ability to coordinate and balance a number of its movements at a time. A particular stretching exercise involves some specific body parts. The present article focuses its discussion on the stretching exercises for middle part of the back. It mentions a few good middle back stretches. When you perform these back exercises correctly and regularly, you get all the given results.

Stretching Exercises for Middle Back

Exercise 1: Stand erect with feet kept at shoulder width and arms at the sides. Bring both the arms in front of your chest. Interlace the fingers of both the palms. Move the inside of the palms to the outside. Extend the arms a bit to the front so that you feel a stretch. Stay in this posture for about 10 - 20 seconds. Return to the starting standing position. Wait for a couple of seconds. Repeat the given exercise. Do it for a count of 20 in the beginning.

Exercise 2: Stand straight with feet kept at a comfortable distance from each other. Place your arms at the waist. Maintaining this posture, move the upper part of the body to the left side. Try to move to the left side as much as is comfortably possible. You will feel stretch in the middle of your back. Stay in this posture for a period of 15 - 20 seconds. Come back to the starting position. Wait for a second, then perform the given steps to the right side. You may keep the knees slightly flexed. This will ease the movement of turning sideways.

Exercise 3: Sit on your knees on the floor. Keep your back straight and hands at the sides. Now, bend at the waist and move your upper body forward. Try to touch the floor with your palms. The idea is to make the back almost parallel to the floor. Look down through the last two movements. Bring your head in the space created in between the knees. Bend the hands at their elbows. Slowly, extend them straight backwards. Stay in this posture for about 30 seconds. You would feel a stretch in the lower part of the middle back. This exercise needs flexibility of muscles to be performed well. Thus, you may not perform it well in the beginning. However, do not force yourself to do it. You would perform it well with regular and proper practice.

Exercise 4: Lay your body on the floor with feet placed closed to each other and the hands kept at the sides. Bend your legs at the knees such that a 45-degree angle is made. This movement will bring the knees close to your torso. Now, lift your body's lower half little upwards. Hold the inner side of the thighs with your hands. By doing this, you would be able to provide support to your body to stay in the given posture. Hold the posture for about a minute. This particular middle back stretch involves the muscles of the lower part of the mid back and is quite easy to perform.

Exercise 5: There is a very effective upper middle back stretch, which you can do anytime at the comfort of your home. You need a chair or bench to perform this particular middle back stretch. Take a chair and sit on it with your back straight yet comfortable. Move both your hands and bring them to the back of your head. Bend the upper part of your torso towards your thighs. The idea is to bring the upper body part in alignment with the thighs. While in this posture, you would feel your back to be stretched. Hold the posture for about 20 seconds. Return to the starting position in a controlled manner.

All the middle back stretches mentioned above are safe and easy-to-perform. They are surefooted to benefit you in the expected way if performed after warming up for at least 10 minutes prior to their performance. Some of the common warming-up exercises are walking, running, cycling and swimming. Select any one of these according to your ease and comfort and derive all the possible benefits of back stretches.