IGX

Anyone have any effective exercises to gently tract the spine? Specifically the thoracic and cervical

Noose jokes are not welcome

Get a powerbear to give you a nice hug from behind.

Alternatively, handing from something like a chin bar usually feels good.

Yoga, not kidding. The YRG SU and DBD routines work for me.

Turdacious wrote:Yoga, not kidding. The YRG SU and DBD routines work for me.

this as well as my previous suggestion

Also, consider get better fitting long johns.

Bar hangs work for me when I'm feeling creaky in the T-spine. If you can get into a solid down dog in yoga, you can get good traction on the T as well by really pulling your heels down and stretching out the spine.

I like the foam roller for the upper back. Hands overhead and rolling the upper spine makes everything happy.

Not sure about the cervical spine. A simple joint mobility session usually puts everything there to rights.

My cervical spine frequently gets out of whack and I have some disc damage as a result. My chiropractor had me work through this progression and it helps a lot:

Start with a rolled up towel and lie flat on a bed or mat and place the towel under your neck, letting your head hang off the other side. The thickness of the rolled up towel should be about 4-5 inches in diameter.

Once you can do this for more than ten minutes comfortably, move on to the following: Lay on the bed flat on your back and allow your head to hang over the edge such that your shoulders are on the be and your head is hanging off.

If you can do that for 10-15 minutes at a time, it works really well a couple times a week. Now I only use it when I get a tweak in my neck and it works like a charm.

syaigh wrote:
Start with a rolled up towel and lie flat on a bed or mat and place the towel under your neck, letting your head hang off the other side. The thickness of the rolled up towel should be about 4-5 inches in diameter.

Once you can do this for more than ten minutes comfortably, move on to the following: Lay on the bed flat on your back and allow your head to hang over the edge such that your shoulders are on the be and your head is hanging off.

If you can do that for 10-15 minutes at a time, it works really well a couple times a week. Now I only use it when I get a tweak in my neck and it works like a charm.

This.

I have a friend who works in construction and swears by his inversion table. Been wanting to try one.

https://www.teetertv.com/?x=bcb

The Ba Duan Jin as taught by Lam Kam Chuen has movements that stretch muscles in the thoracic area

Gentle pulling the head w/JS bands front, back, side. Also putting the band behind the neck and gently sliding it right and left with your head turning in the opposite direction loosens things up back there for me.

Lastly, have you considered taking a nap? I have a hammock by trek light and things stretch out nicely in this kind of hammock as you are fully supported across your spine but in a slight traction as well. I have eye bolts in a wall in a spare room and use it when either my wife or I are sick, snoring too much, etc. I didn't want to put a bed in there and thought I'd see if the hammock could be used for more than camping. Google hammock sleeping. There's also a yoga that utilizes a hammock device. Google images for hammock yoga.

Bux I've got a Teeter and besides just hanging upside down, once you get used to using it you can actually with little effort rhythmically rock back and forth...not all the way down but around halfway or so gently loading and unload your spine.

Alfred_E._Neuman wrote:Bar hangs work for me when I'm feeling creaky in the T-spine.

I find I can get a much better relax in the spine when in the top of the dip position rather than hanging from the arms. Does nothing for the cervical, obviously. I use a corner in the kitchen counter for my impromptu dip bars.

Saw that site Doc-- I don't think the folks at Trek understand the meaning of 'banana hammock.'

A friend of mine resorted to this after chiropractic didn't work. Little bit each day. Fixed a host of issues.

http://www.activeforever.com/p-70-overd ... QgodGz4Afg

Check out Donnie Thompson's videos on youtube. He works with Kelly Starrett a little bit and does a lot of band traction stuff. He definiteyl knows about decompressing the spine.

WTF do you need to decompress your spine? Curves workouts shouldn't be fucking you up that much.

Blaidd Drwg wrote:A friend of mine resorted to this after chiropractic didn't work. Little bit each day. Fixed a host of issues.

http://www.activeforever.com/p-70-overd ... QgodGz4Afg

Does anyone have experience using one of these things while being catheterized against your will?

Blaidd Drwg wrote:A friend of mine resorted to this after chiropractic didn't work. Little bit each day. Fixed a host of issues.

http://www.activeforever.com/p-70-overd ... QgodGz4Afg

I saw a late night commercial for this contraption years ago featuring an endorsement from David Carradine.

Starrett definitely has a lot of band based spine traction stuff in his MWOD videos, but there are so darned many at this point it might be hard to find specifics. Dick Hartzell has several band techniques to decompress the back, and so does Dave,the "Resistance Band Training" guy. They both supply lots of free videos on Youtube.

DikTracy6000 wrote:I have a friend who works in construction and swears by his inversion table. Been wanting to try one.

https://www.teetertv.com/?x=bcb

Costco has this brand....looks sturdy. I used to love doing inversion as well and might pick one up.

we have one of those at the gym that's been in the box for two years. sounds like it would be a useful tool.

This thing


http://www.backrevolution.com/

is an alternative to an inversion table, real quick and easy to get in and out. Of course you could use an old-style back extension / hyperextension bench to get into a similar position. Most back extension benches now are 45 degree type



which doesn't work too well for hanging, but the old style where your legs are parallel to the floor



or really old style





or a glute-ham



will work better for hanging traction for the neck and thoracic areas.

If you have serious trouble up there, a lot of chiropractors have a machine that you get strapped into and it does a cyclic traction (tugs / lets go / tugs / lets go...). A friend of mine has one and I know a few people that he has treated with it, sometimes really great results.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... ed_in_2012

#4. eric cressey shoulder and t spine stuff is spot on. Working scap pushups/cat camel/child pose rotations is good and what i use.

Post on 2012 Best Shit diaphram stretch is true knowledge.

Spine flexes AND extends so you have to work it both ways. Gotta open hips via psoas work for almost anybody who sits at work. Laying on back and letting legs and hips hang off towrd floor will traction psoas and allow everything else to work. Second choice is laying on floor with foam roller under low back and just letting hips unwind.

Cervical?
Try the suspension rig used by David Carradine in his hotel.
Occlusion training of the neck is quite relaxing.