Jump to content

Flattening Shoulder Blades


atacrossroads

Recommended Posts

I don't know if anyone has any experience of this either with their DC or pupils, but since growing during puberty, my DD who is 14, is having difficulty flattening her shoulder blades and back when her arms are down in bras bas. Once they are moving into first, second, or fifth they flatten out, but when her arms are down they are sticking out of her back.

Is this something that might improve when the thoracic spine grows, is it weakness in the lats, or a genetic problem that can't be improved? Any advice would be great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Weakness in the lats, quite likely. Also, during teenage years as girls become more self aware they tend to lift their shoulders and bring them slightly forward which then can cause the shoulder blades to wing out a little. Try encouraging her to put her arms in bras bas then to 'roll' her shoulders up, backwards and down. Another tip that might help - have her stand with her arms out to the sides and imagine reaching her middle finger away, then have her slowly move her arms down to bras bas keeping the same feeling of breadth across her chest/back.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had this problem all my life and didn't realise that it was adding to my headache problems until I saw a Physio and looked at myself walking in a mirror from the side. I couldn't even activate those stabiliser muscles under and below the shoulder blades. So my physio had me stand with my back against the wall, very close so that the wall was pressing against this area. I then rolled my shoulder blades back as advised by Dr Dance and could just about feel them. You can also do this lying on the floor and pulling your shoulders back to touch the floor. The physio told me to do 3 x 20 reps of activating/squeezing these muscles every day. After 6 weeks and also paying attention to my overall posture my headaches had reduced from 3 a week to 3 a month!!! Amazing. BTW my DD has this problem but has also learnt to control it with exercises.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...