Hi Harvey,
Sorry to hear about the sciatica. I hate to say it but this needs to be a medical professional visit. Without knowing why your sciatica is present it would be extremely irresponsible of me to recommend any treatment. Do you have a past history of this or a diagnosis from MRI, etc?
Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the reply! It’s a great stretch for the thoracic spine and lateral shoulder for sure. The shoulder and head drop are a necessary piece of the exercise in order to optimize the stretch. It’s certainly not a “backswing lesson” but if you do this stretch as shown it will help give you the ability to maintain your spine angle in the swing in order to load the torso and lead shoulder! Additionally, most amateurs, as Paul might agree, tend to have too flat of a shoulder plane in the backswing… this stretch can help you feel what it’s like to exaggerate a ‘low’ lead shoulder and ‘high’ trail shoulder at the top.
Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT
4 Responses to “Cross Body Roll”
July 15, 2015
HarveyFedermanI just came down with sciatica…what stretches would you recommend?? Thanx
July 15, 2015
Jeremy KlinkhamerHi Harvey,
Sorry to hear about the sciatica. I hate to say it but this needs to be a medical professional visit. Without knowing why your sciatica is present it would be extremely irresponsible of me to recommend any treatment. Do you have a past history of this or a diagnosis from MRI, etc?
Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT
September 20, 2017
MarkMcDonnellLooks like a great stretch, but isn’t your spine angle changing as you are rolling the ball?
September 21, 2017
Jeremy KlinkhamerHi Mark,
Thanks for the reply! It’s a great stretch for the thoracic spine and lateral shoulder for sure. The shoulder and head drop are a necessary piece of the exercise in order to optimize the stretch. It’s certainly not a “backswing lesson” but if you do this stretch as shown it will help give you the ability to maintain your spine angle in the swing in order to load the torso and lead shoulder! Additionally, most amateurs, as Paul might agree, tend to have too flat of a shoulder plane in the backswing… this stretch can help you feel what it’s like to exaggerate a ‘low’ lead shoulder and ‘high’ trail shoulder at the top.
Jeremy Klinkhamer, PT