Side-Lying Open Book Rotation
Lie on your side, knees stacked and bent, and open your top arm across your body to rotate your mid-back while your hips stay exactly where they are.
Why it works
Your mid-back is built to rotate, and in most desk-bound adults, it barely does anymore. When rotation isn't available there, your body just goes and finds it somewhere else, usually your lumbar spine, which is built for stability, not twisting, or your shoulder, which then quietly takes on more than it should. That borrowing is behind a huge amount of ordinary low back and shoulder trouble. Lie on your side with the knees stacked and held down and you lock the pelvis in place, so any rotation you get has to come from the thoracic spine instead of getting stolen from the hips. Do this before overhead work, or after a long day hunched at a desk, and it's worth a great deal more than the ninety seconds it costs you.
How to do it
- Lie on your side with a cushion under your head, knees bent to about ninety degrees and stacked one on the other.
- Stretch both arms out in front of you at shoulder height, palms together.
- Rest the top hand on the bottom knee, or have it held down, so the pelvis cannot follow the movement.
- Slide the top arm along the floor and open it across your body toward the other side, following the hand with your eyes and letting your chest and head turn with it.
- Go only as far as the knees stay stacked, breathe out at the end, then return slowly. Eight to ten each side.
Dose: 2 sets of 8 to 10 rotations per side, daily. Rotation comes from the ribcage, not from cheating with the hips.
⚠ This is educational content for discussion with a clinician, not medical advice or a prescription. Move within a comfortable range and never force the arm to the floor. Ease off with shoulder pain, and reduce the range in later pregnancy.
