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Recovery

Why This Chiropractor Wants You To Stretch Your Ligaments + How To Do It

Author: Kelli Pearson, D.C.

April 09, 2026

Chiropractor

By Kelli Pearson, D.C.

Chiropractor

Kelli Pearson, D.C., has been a chiropractic physician for nearly four decades. Her book, “Eight Minutes to Ageless” focuses on the minimalistic approach, teaching the reader how to put in very little time each day to live a longer and happier life.

Image by Lyuba Burakova / Stocksy

April 09, 2026

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Much like the progression of the seasons in our life (childhood and stubbed toes, adolescence and broken hearts) maturing adults have a new set of challenges. But if you take heed, aging can be an excellent adventure.

Let's talk about tissue in your body that doesn't contract (unlike muscles) but, instead, holds things together—specifically, bones to bones. You can't exercise to get them stronger; when they tear, the joints (bone to bone) are no longer held together. Any guesses? Ligaments. (Ligare comes from Greek, "to bind.")

Naming all the ligaments of the spine would be difficult, but suffice it to say some ligaments run along the side of the spine to create stability. Some run inside of the spinal canal, and some run outside the spine, located in the front, sides, and back of the spine.

Why do I believe in stretching your ligaments?

These ligaments do creep, shorten, and get stiffer. But how does this affect you? Let's assume "stretching" never made it to your top-10 list. Let's also assume you've been in some traumatic event—car accident, hit by a snowboarder, suffered an unfortunate slip and fall, had a chair pulled out from under you, or got pushed down by the class bully—but you did not pursue any treatment of any type. (That includes stretching every day to keep your mobility up where you hurt.)

Likely, you were hoping that time would heal your wounds. Let's add one more likelihood—that you have a job that requires sitting at a desk or you spend a fair amount of time in front of the screen with your head poked forward.

Caring for your ligaments feels tremendous and takes minimal physical effort. For those who need to sweat or feel the pain to know that something is happening, gravity-assisted ligament stretching (GALS) may seem silly. But over time, you will see the proof that these new actions are working.

Two poses to help stretch your thoracic ligaments

How to begin:

Image by Kamas Wood / Heather Thompson

For now, let's assume you don't have an accelerated kyphosis or lots of inflammation in your spine. (If you do, however, follow the protocol we did with the case above.) The goal here is to lie down on the roller so your butt is positioned on one end of the roller and your head is resting on the other. If you can't easily get up and down off the floor, this can get a little tricky. In the worst-case scenario, get onto your hands and knees and make sure you position the roller in such a way that, if you were to drop your pelvis toward one end of the roller, you would land on the end of the roller.

Once there, make sure you bend your knees and put your feet apart for stability. Your hands will be on the floor next to the roller, and you can lower down onto your elbows as you find a way to place your spine on the roller. If you have strong enough abdominal muscles, you can lower yourself slowly without making a jarring contact as you lower yourself down. Once there, congratulate yourself.

The next part is simple. Keeping your knees bent and feet shoulder-width apart, put your arms out to the side. Hang out and allow gravity to influence the ligaments in the front of your spine, ultimately reducing your kyphotic curve/hump. While many people will lie on the roller and go back and forth while moving their arms and shoulders around (and that's OK), I would prefer you to hang out in this static pose for several minutes. Your goal here is not to stretch or massage muscles but to get those ligaments to open up.

One caveat—if your shoulders are stiff, you can place your arms down to the side of the roller, palms facing the floor. If that is too much stress, cross them on your tummy. Over time, you can try to move them down and out, but honor where you find yourself. If your shoulders are movable, experiment with putting your shoulders over your head.

How long should you stay here? If you can comfortably stay for two to three minutes, do so. But if it becomes hard or icky, take it in one-minute increments, and slowly progress over the next several weeks. If you feel your neck needs support, place a small pillow under your neck. Over time, as your spine gets straighter, you can lose that pillow prop.

With your arms out to the side (either palms up or palms down, depending on what feels good), while keeping your knees bent, you