First, let’s dash some hopes by clarifying that this isn’t a list about secondary sex characteristics or mate selection—it’s about functional anatomy.
The reason you should keep reading is because you, like most people, probably have tight chest muscles from doing normal daily activities, such as working at a desk, driving, or carrying a bag. Basically anything that causes you to round your back and/or work with your arms out in front of you—which is probably many things—can cause tightness to accumulate, day after day, year after year. And that tightness isn’t doing you any favors.
Below are four great reasons to release that tightness and bring balance back to the pectorals. Click here for a video about how to release and rebalance the muscles in the chest using straightforward self bodywork techniques.
1. Less nagging upper back pain
Imagine if I walked up to you and asked you to hold a big balloon between your shoulders—no hands—just shoulders. You would probably round your back and try to curve your shoulders together to grab hold of the balloon. This is an exaggerated illustration of what happens as our pecs shorten: the chest collapses, while the little muscles in our upper back that strive to stabilize the shoulder blades and the spine get pulled taut. Circulation becomes restricted, and the likelihood of knots, adhesions, and pain in the upper back goes way up. When you lengthen your pecs, your upper back muscles can relax.
2. Better posture, better mood
Recent research has demonstrated that an open and upright posture (particularly in the upper body) communicates confidence—not just to the people around you—but to yourself by deceasing cortisol levels and increasing testosterone levels. Self bodywork techniques that lengthen and broaden the chest, like the chest release video below, can act as real mood boosters, profoundly impacting our physiological and psychological states.
3. Reduced risk of injury
If pec minor is overly tight on you, then chances are your shoulder joint is being pulled out of alignment. One of the most common shoulder injuries is subacromial impingement, in which the tight pec minor protracts, anteriorly tilts, and downwardly rotates the shoulder blade, thus effectively lowering the subacromial arch and pinching the underlying tendons (typically supraspinatus, and also the subacromial bursa). Ouch!
4. Easier breathing
This is a big one. Your rib cage needs to be able to expand front to back and side to side when you breathe, and if your pec muscles are really tight then full breaths will be a challenge. You can test this easily—try rounding your back and collapsing your chest (like in the balloon illustration above) and then try to take a deep breath. Not easy, right? Not only does your body need oxygen to carry out all of its life sustaining functions, it’s also distressing to your nervous system—on a deep gut level—when you can’t take full breaths. Restore length to your chest muscles so that you can breathe easily and soothe your nervous system!
