Body & Balance Studio
Posture scan

Quadruped Downward Rotation Stretch

mobilizethoracic

A video demonstration is coming soon. Follow the step-by-step instructions below.

How to do it

  1. Start on hands and knees (quadruped).
  2. Slide your right hand as far under your left arm as possible, dropping the right shoulder toward the floor.
  3. Reach across your body to feel a light stretch in the mid-back.
  4. Return to start and repeat with the left hand under the right arm.
  5. To progress, hold a resistance band anchored to a rack and let it assist the rotation.

Form cues

  • Reach across the body, dropping the shoulder
  • Keep the motion in the mid-back

Dosage

10 reps of a 10-second hold each side

Muscles worked

thoracic rotators — anatomical illustration
thoracic rotatorsAnatomical illustration derived from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, licensed under CC BY-SA.
mid-back — anatomical illustration
mid-backAnatomical illustration derived from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, licensed under CC BY-SA.

Stretches: thoracic rotators, mid-back

Target muscles

Thoracic RotatorsMid-Back

Helps with

Forward Head PostureRounded Shoulders
Wall-Standing Postural ExerciseWall-Sitting Postural ExerciseRhomboid Squeeze & Pectoral StretchFoam Roller Thoracic ExtensionSupine Knee Hug & Posterior Pelvic TiltThoracic Peanut Self-Mobilization

Reference: Rebuilding Milo p.410