Dear friends,

We spend so much time these days focusing down: whether it’s time spent on our phones or looking at a laptop, it’s easy over time to start to round our shoulders, bend our necks and hunch forward. But what’s happening when we do so?

Enter the rhomboids:

• a muscle group located on your upper back that pulls your shoulders back towards your spine
• made up of the rhomboid minor and the rhomboid major

When we consistently sit with a rounded or hunched posture, we form “muscle habits.” The rhomboids are postural muscles that over time get tight and short and lose their strength to keep us upright. Over time this can lead to a hunched posture that is more difficult to correct, neck pain, headaches or even cervical disc problems.

Here’s where we can help: during our sports medicine assessment we will check your posture, the rhomboids and the surrounding structures before using acupuncture to relax and activate those muscles that have been impacted by too much sitting.

In the meantime, check with your doctor first and try this easy 1 minute exercise to activate the rhomboids, open the chest muscles, and help improve your posture!