Feeling tight and tense from chest feeding? 🧑‍🍼

Breastfeeding and bottle feeding your bub can place a lot of strain through your neck and shoulders, while the constant hunched position can result in tightness across the chest 🤱

It can contribute to neck pain, upper back pain, headaches and more.

Try these stretches to release some tension through the muscles and bring back some movement through those stiff joints!

1. Cat Cow Stretch

• Starting in a four point kneel position, with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees

• Flex through your spine, arching your back towards the ceiling pushing your shoulder blades away from each other and looking down towards the floor with your chin tucked

• Then slowly reverse your spine into extension, pushing your chest forward and looking up towards the ceiling

• Slowly move through flexion and extension, pausing and taking extra time at points that feel extra stiff or restricted

• Repeat at least 6 times or as many as you feel your body needs

2. Modified Thread The Needle Stretch

• Starting in a four point kneel position, with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees

• Bring your right hand behind your neck

• Slowly bring your right elbow down to meet your left elbow, then reverse and bring your right elbow up towards the ceiling opening up through your chest and rotating through your back

• Repeat at least 6 times or as many as you feel you need, before repeating on the left side

3. Chest Openers

• Lie on your side with your knees bent to a 90 degree angle, place a pillow under your head for support

• Place both arms out in front of you with your palms facing each other

• Open your top arm up toward the ceiling allowing your upper body to rotate with you arm extended straight

• Hold for a deep breathe in and out

• Bring your arm back to the start position

• Make sure your hips stay facing forward and your knees stay together pointing forward 

• Repeat slowly and continuously for at least 6 times and then roll over and repeat on the other side or as many times your body needs

We hope you found this helpful! Feel free to repeat this series multiple times through out the week and keep Moving With Us. If you have any questions or need any advice on any of these exercises, please don't hesitate to reach out and chat to us.

Remember that you shouldn’t feel pain during any of these exercises. If they are painful for you, consider avoiding that exercise or decreasing the intensity. We are always here to help if needed.

If you’re after some more advice or are in need of some hands on help, we’d love to see you at Collective Motion! Collective Motion offers Osteopathy, Dietetics, Clinical Exercise and Pilates and is conveniently located to service our Bentleigh community as well as its surrounding suburbs including Bentleigh East, McKinnon, Ormond, Glenhuntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Oakleigh, Gardenvale, Brighton East and Hampton East. Click below to book an appointment and let us help you get moving again.