Four key stretches to do at home, from Sports Massage Therapist Hayley Haggie

All of these stretches are ones that I incorporate (if relevant!) into my massage treatments. After soft tissue work of the muscle group I passively take you into these positions with breathing and occasionally include isometric (static) contractions of the muscles involved, to help increase the range.

Here are versions that you can do at home.

1) Traps, Lev Scap, Delts, upper pecs and all the fascia and platysma around the front of the neck. Using a towel which has no stretch, and hold it low down so that you get that feeling of your shoulder literally being pulled away from your ears. (Common tension shoulder response!) lean head away from the towel arm and rotate slowly. You’ll feel a warming deep stretch in the neck.

2) Lats. Really try to look and reach through under the holding arm, use the breath to increase the rotation and whilst holding on try to take tour backside away from your anchor point to increase stretch!

3) Quadratus Lumborum/ obliques. Really use your body weight to sink into the hip closest to the floor and you’ll feel it all along your ‘side’. Rotate slightly forwards to increase the stretch in QL and backwards to increase the stretch in Obliques

4) Thoracic and Lumbar rotations! Try to keep your shoulders flat on the floor. Just be aware of how far you can lean into each side without the shoulder on the opposite side coming up.