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Easy Spinal Exercises You Can Do Sitting In Rush Hour Traffic

Improve your mobility while you're in gridlock. Who knew?

There are a few things you can do when you're stuck in rush-hour traffic to pass time. Sure you can rage, but it ain't good for you. Radio and podcasts are a good option to keep your brain in shape, but what about your poor body? All that sitting! Trapped behind the wheel! Our backs hurt just thinking about it.

Well, fear not! In this edition of The Quick Fix, physiotherapist Vinh Pham, founder of the Toronto-based clinic, Myodetox, demonstrates three easy exercises to help with spinal mobility that you can do in the confines of your driver's seat:

Watch the video for Pham's three moves:

Thoracic rotation — improves your posture and lung capacity

Side bend — increases your spinal mobility and releases low back tension

Rib elevators — increases flexibility in your neck, shoulders and spine

Spinal mobility — and particularly thoracic spinal mobility (basically your upper and middle back) — is important to maintain because it can affect your posture and range of motion. Poor thoracic spine mobility can eventually lead to pain and problems in your lower back, shoulders and other joints.

All the sitting and slumping in our chair that we do in our office jobs doesn't help this cause. So the trick is to get moving whenever you can. Like during rush hour!

So, next time you're tempted to lay on the horn, stop. Take a breath. Do a side bend or 10. Your spine — and that dude in the Subaru in front of you — will thank you for it.

In The Quick Fix series, we look to fitness and well-being experts for three exercises to relieve common pains and ailments. What condition would you like to see us tackle next? Shoot us an email at CanadaLiving@huffingtonpost.com or let us know in the comments below.

Content concerning health or medical matters is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have about a medical condition, before embarking on a weight loss program or beginning a new or changing an existing treatment plan.

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