T-Spine CARs – Unstick & Control Your Vertebrae
Video by TJ O’Brien
The T-Spine CAR – short for Thoracic Spine, Controlled Articular Rotation – is a great way to bring your upper back through a big range of motion while creating awareness and muscle control.
Our backs don’t always get a chance to move through the ranges presented in this exercise, and the T-Spine CAR provides a great warm-up, assessment, and awareness building for the muscles of the upper back.
When performing T-Spine CARs, put intention on taking each joint through flexion, extension, rotation and translation. It only takes a few minutes to get your vertebrae moving and for you to practice control of specific segments of your spine! Learning to move each vertebrae individually will help you identify your problem and stuck areas and be able to improve upon them.
Additionally, a more mobile upper back can help us in all related movements downstream, such as overhead pressing and dips. Mobility of the T-Spine even plays a role when it comes to bracing before lifting an object. Unfortunately, many of us are sitting at a desk all day, driving all day, texting all day, have poor posture, etc. Schedule a few minutes in your day to move and express your spinal muscles in their ranges of motion – you will see improvement in your positions and fewer injuries.