I’ve seen this countless times; a client walks into my office, terrified of their recent MRI. They’ve got several disc bulges and couldn’t move for a few days after lifting something heavy. Surgery has been suggested. However, the whole time, it’s just muscle.

Unless a muscle is torn, nothing abnormal really appears on imaging. You can’t see a stiff muscle. “But Doc, I couldn’t walk, it must be the disc”. An irritated muscle can most certainly can immobilize you. 

The lats are big powerful muscles that range from the shoulder to the low back. They extend and internally rotate the shoulders. They limit the opposite, shoulder flexion and external rotation. 

Here are a couple quick assessments and exercises to use:

Now, these are some general ways to get range of motion back, however if you want to get more specific to the lat, I like to use this:

And if you want to get more aggressive you can use this:

Remember, it’s important to get a proper assessment when having any kind of pain. Even if an image shows that something is “wrong”, it has to be correlated to how you move.