anyone know any good stretches or exercises to strengthen chest and upper back??

[eddy1608]

hi hope you are all feeling good today, since the summer of 2012 i ve been haven chest and upper back aches and pains obviously having bad anxiety my thoughts and focus thought it was heart issues and ive had ecgs and blood work all was normal and was told at 25 serious heart problems would have been found at birth and as my ecgs and bloods was fine it was anxiety and or muscle problems so i was referred to physio to help my posture as i always sit hunched forward and i walking leaning forward also and he said over time this would weaken my back and chest but still on bad days i think its my heart. anyway sorry for the long story does anyone know any good stretches or exercises i can try to help this? or if you have any knowledge of chest issues at all any input is greatly received.
thanks for reading :)

[Lilharry]

I would suggest yoga - great for lengthening and stretching and breathing too. I'm not going to suggest any specific poses, but you can find loads of yoga lessons on youtube or sign up for some classes. Great for anxiety too.

[MarkJames3]

I have seen a Chiropractor for my back problems...

she gave me a few exercises to do....

One is find a corner of a room and place your hands shoulder height and extended on each wall from the corner... then slowly let your body fall towards the wall and then push back out again slowly... this stretches the chest muscles and strengthens your back muscles

[Althea]

What you describe is a pretty common thing these days, since we're all hunching over our computers--it's often referred to as "upper cross (or crossed) syndrome." Keep in mind that strengthening and stretching are two different things! What generally happens is the chest muscles grow very tight, and the back muscles elongate. So you don't want to stretch your upper back--it's stretched enough already.

Mark James' exercise above is a really nice one. You can also gently try doorway stretches--hold the sides of a doorway and lean forward to stretch your muscles. Start your hands' position low and move them up bit by bit so you're stretching different muscles--and be very gentle to yourself and don't push it! Consistency matters more than power, and if you hurt yourself you'll just make things worse.

You can find some back exercises online--exrx.net is a good place to look--but you need to be very slow, thoughtful, and careful about those too. Also don't assume that just because it's a back exercise doesn't mean it's good for you--there are a lot of different back muscles, and yours may be weak in their own particular way.