soft rib cage is exactly the goal of my PT. She is always working to help the ribs be "bouncier" so that they move up and down with the breath the way they are supposed to. I can really feel it when she gets them there, because my upper body allows a much freer range of motion. I had it just before surgery, but them lost it during recovery and am working to get it back again.

The stiff and unmoving thoracic spine that plagues so many of us is something that precludes the ability to stand up straight because it is just stuck forward- If it is stuck in the wrong position and cannot move into the correctly aligned position or move back and forth with the breath, all the pulling shoulders back in the world won't help it.

Johanna

I agree about a mobile upper body/thoracic as well as lumbar spine. PT started with me with certain moves I was already doing with my Yoga...hence she did not have to teach me that...again..NOT ALL YOGA is good for TOS but many poses are. PT was reduced down to a few things specific to my TOS because of the other therapeutic modalities I was engaged in. We are still tweaking my therapy with the addition of exercises to lower my ribcage...(I belly breath naturally always have) but my rib cage could be lower or brought down more often so as not to compress...sort of like helping me to keep it down while I perform certain tasks...same thing with keeping my shoudlers down and back during these same tasks..with time and effort they will hold this position more naturally without me even thinking and I will not (should not) have any compression or flare ups. I hope.

my point is, that without a "soft" ribcage, it is impossible to get yourself into the correct position for "good posture" because the ribs just won't go to the proper place. Also, the forward head goes along with this. It just gets stuck there until you can find someone who understands and can help you get it unstuck.

also, oft times if the lats or quadratus muscles are too tight, then either or both will work to push the ribcage up. In which case, no amount of working on the scalenes or shoulder muscles will get the rib cage to come down.

Hellerwork and/or myofascial release is extremely useful in these cases to loosen the muscles, THEN one can work to keep them loose on their own. They are almost impossible to really stretch out on your own, much like some of the upper shoulder/neck muscles.

I agree that flexible muscles and body are key to so many things including getting relief.

I suppose what you call soft ribcage, I'd call flexible. No biggie, I just thought you were referring to something different and I wanted to understand.

I think I need to re-learn HOW to activate certain muscles and not others to accomplish certain movements..hence the need to go back to the PT at this point...that and she has indicated that with the work I've done in the past my body is more responsive to things she can do to help me.

Keep up the good work.