Got pain between your shoulder blade and spine? It’s easy to think you need Rhomboid exercises to fix Rhomboid pain… but it’s much more likely to be coming from the rib joints (where the ribs connect to your spine) OR referred from your lower neck. THE CAUSE OF SHOULDER BLADE PAIN... Posture: Sitting or standing in a slouched posture position can cause joints to jam in the base of the neck and the rib joints, so improving you posture is the first step to stop this type of scapula pain or shoulder blade pain. Sleeping position: Laying on your side with your shoulder pushed forward can jam the joints between our ribs and the spine, causing thoracic spine pain and muscle tightness over those rib joints. (The “costovertebral joints”) Text Neck: Spinal joints at the base of the neck get jammed and irritated from forward head posture or looking down at mobile phones & laptops all day. This joint irritation can refer pain below that area causing mid back pain or upper back pain on one side. HOW THESE EXERCISE FIX “RHOMBOID PAIN”… Exercise 1. The Towel Roll Technique loosens the joints between the ribs and the spine that can cause this type of rib pain. It also improves neck position, so the lower neck nerves don’t refer pain to the upper back. Exercise 2. The Thread The Needle exercises mobilises the costovertebral joints (rib joints) and gets blood flowing through the rhomboids and other scapula stabilisers. So, it’s great for costovertebral pain and Rhomboid rehab too! Exercise 3. A Thoracic Cat-Cow is great for mobilising the thoracic spine, rib joints and lower neck joints, so it's great for middle back pain relief. Exercise 4. Simple Side Bending with your arms up mobilise the spine and ribs in a different direction. This can be great to release those rib joints! Exercise 5. What I call a Chin Tuck PLUS is one of the best neck retraction exercises to improve posture that causes pain over the Rhomboid area. Protruding the chest increases the area of joints mobilised, but it’s great to strengthen important posture muscles too. ---------------------------------------- Is your pain a bit further down?... The 5 Best Exercises to Relieve a Stiff or Painful Middle Back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8vKCXP7OSc How To Release Tight Mid Back Muscles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyeReUbqg6Y ---------------------------------------- 0:00 Where "Rhomboid pain" really comes from 0:26 How to avoid rib joint irritation 1:02 How to avoid lower neck referred pain 1:37 Exercise 1. Towel Roll 2:26 Exercise 2. Thread The Needle 2:55 Exercise 3. Side Bending 3:21 Exercise 4. Thoracic Cat-Cow 3:53 Exercise 5. Chin-Tuck PLUS #bodyfixexercises #thoracicmobility #midbackpain