The Thoracic Spine Flexion Exercise stretches and helps to improve mobility in your torso, specifically your thoracic spine – your middle and upper back.
Thoracic spine mobility is an extremely important, and often times overlooked, component of a great golf swing.
Poor thoracic mobility can very easily lead to pain and increase the potential for injuries in the shoulders, neck, lower back, and hips. Unfortunately, our daily habits and posture make us all very prone to poor thoracic spine mobility.
The Thoracic Spine Flexion Exercise forms part of the Golf Mobility series of innovative and dynamic exercises that will help to improve your joint and muscle mobility, improving your range of motion while increasing functional strength within the entire range of that motion – thus helping to prevent injuries and building the foundation for a consistent, accurate, and powerful golf swing.
Figure 1. Thoracic Spine Flexion Exercise Video.
Steps
- Kneel on the ground, with your arms straight in front of you, and sit back on your heels.
- Drop your head and round your upper back, taking a deep breath in.
- Think about lifting your chest in order to extend, or arch, your upper back, as you exhale.
- Return to the starting position and repeat.
Keep your abdominal muscles engaged and do not allow any movement in your lower back or hips throughout.
How Will It Benefit Your Golf Swing?
The Thoracic Spine Flexion Exercise is great for keeping your spine mobile and helping to reduce stiffness in your lower and middle back.
Spine mobility is crucial for a good golf swing. It enables you to maintain proper posture throughout the swing, and to rotate your body safely and efficiently.
Developing poor posture or stiffness in your back will reduce your ability to rotate properly and will alter your swing mechanics, leading to faulty swing patterns and increased risk of injury.
For more information on the perfect golf posture, see Golf Swing 101 – Setup: Basic Posture and Golf Swing 103 – Setup: The Perfect Golf Spine Angle.
Target Muscles
This exercise mainly involves your erector spinae.
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Golf Performance Programmes – the most effective golf-specific fitness regimens on the planet, guaranteed to make you a better golfer!
There are a number of other golf-specific mobility exercises in the Golf Loopy Train like a Champion System.
Introduction to the Swing like a Champion System.
Golf Swing 101 – Setup: Basic Posture.
Golf Swing 103 – Setup: The Perfect Golf Spine Angle.
Golf Anatomy and Kinesiology, a collection of articles describing the roles of the muscles involved in the golf swing.
