Stretch: Upper Back (Standing Support Reach)

Target area: Upper back. (Diagram 4)

Steps:

1. Stand upright, feet together, about three feet from a supporting surface approximately waist to shoulder height, and your arms overhead.
2. Exhale, keeping your arms and legs straight, flex at the waist, flatten your back, and grasp the supporting surface with both hands.
3. Exhale, extend your shoulders, and press down on the supporting surface to produce an arch in your back.
4. Hold the stretch and relax.

• Position: standing ~3 feet from a waist- to shoulder-height support, feet together, arms overhead.
• Action: flex at the waist with straight arms/legs, grip the support, press down to arch the back.
• Static stretch: hold and relax.

• static-stretching — technique used.
• latissimus-dorsi — upper-back musculature.
• stretch-upper-back-hang — companion upper-back stretch.