Pectoral and front of Neck Stretches- helping Forward Head Carriage & Rounded Shoulders

Scott, our  Remedial Massage Therapist at Errol Street Chiropractic Centre in North Melbourne is going through three simple stretches to help with the forward head carriage and rounding of the shoulders.

These stretches will help anyone who sits all day in the office at their computer or spends lots of time on their phone, driving a vehicle or bending over sink, bench or just generally bent over for prolonged periods of time.

The 3 areas to stretch in the video are:

1. Pectoralis major. This muscle sits at the front of your chest, and attaches between the shoulder and the chest bone. To stretch this muscle you will need to stand in a door way and raise your arm to about 90 degrees and lightly lean forward into it, do one side at a time and then change over. Hold this stretch for approximately 30 seconds.
2. Pectoralis minor. This muscle also sits at the front of your chest and attaches between the shoulder and the chest bone, but slightly higher than the pectoral major muscle and is very much involved when you roll your shoulders forward. This is a great stretch if you find your shoulders are rounded. To stretch this muscle you need to do the same thing as the pec major stretch except this time you will be raising our elbows up slightly to about 120 degrees, again just leaning slightly into it. Hold for approximately 30 seconds.
3. Sterno-cleido-mastoid or SCM. This is a muscle that sits at the front of your neck.To stretch this muscle you will need to anchor down our collar bone by holding your collar bone using the hand on the same side, then laterally bending the neck to the other side rotating your head back to the side we are stretching and then lifting the chin up.                                                                                                                 Hold for 20 seconds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                PLEASE NOTE:As with all stretches these shouldn’t cause any pain, and if you’re feeling pain you should stop stretching immediately.                                                                                                                                  Call us on 9329 1118  if you require further information.