3 Stretches to Get Rid of Shoulder Pain

Whether it’s sleeping on your shoulders, spending hours at your computer, or looking down at your phone in less than perfect posture, shoulders tend to get tight and out of alignment if you do any of these too often. Your shoulder(s) being out of alignment can cause not only shoulder pain, but neck and upper back pain as well. I suspect we all know how uncomfortable that can be. . . .

After some good self-massage try these 3 shoulder stretches to get you out of pain and start the healing.

Each of these stretches should be done in a doorway. In a split stance position. Your lead foot should be slightly through the doorway, while your back foot should be slightly behind the doorway.

Hold each stretch for 7-10 slow breaths.

For this stretch, your hands should be reaching out and up towards the top of the door way. Your posture should look similar to the letter “Y”. Your hands will be resting on the door frame.

For this stretch you’ll want to bring your arms down so that your elbows form a 90 degree angle. Both your forearms and hands should be supported on the frame of the doorway.

For this stretch you’ll want to move your hands down the door frame so that they are at about a 45 degree angle.

Most of us could afford to do each of these stretches daily. Some of us could afford to do them a few times a day. Start with once a day and see how they work for you. Please be sure to do a bit of self-massage (rolling) before hand. That way you’ll be able to maximize the benefits.

The 5 Most Important Stretches If You Spend Your Day Sitting

Fix Your Shoulder Pain

Intro to Rotator Cuff using a band

Here’s a quick understanding of the importance of training rotator cuff movements.

Do-It-Yourself Shoulder Kit

WOW!  April is already coming to a close.  Hard to believe how fast the year is flying by already.  Summer weather is just around the corner.

And if you're like most people, warmer weather means more activities.  Whether it's the company picnic, yard work for the house, or just being out enjoying the warmer temperatures, we all become a bit more active.

But what about the last 3-5 months? 

Chances are you were a lot less active, especially if the weather was less than pleasant to be out in.  That means your body could use a little tune-up before you start all those activities.  Chances are you could use a little do-it-yourself fix it guide -- for your shoulders.  After all, no matter what your activity, I suspect you'll be using your arms and shoulders a lot more frequently than you did during the winter months.

So don't leave yourself open to injury. Get your body, and this month your shoulders, ready for the fun in the sun.

If you know me, you know I'm big on doing the right movements, in the right order, to get the best results. 

So first things first.

Let's start by getting your body and specifically your shoulders, ready to do some work.

Self Myofascial Release (self massage)

Now that your body is warmed up, you'll be able to stretch it properly and prepare it for exercise.

Shoulder Stretches

So let's move to the exercises that will almost guarantee you have no shoulder pain during your active summer.

Shoulder Exercise 1  

Shoulder Exercise 2  

Shoulder Exercise 3  

Shoulder Exercise 4  

Shoulder Exercise 5

There's your Do-It-Yourself Guide to stronger, healthier shoulders.

Seriously Tired of Shoulder Pain?

Just this morning I was approached by a regular I know from the gym asking how to get rid of shoulder and elbow pain.  He was complaining of numbness running down his arm and just an overall ache. He admitted having the habit of sleeping on his shoulders, and leaning to that same side while watching TV in his favorite chair. And of course still insists on doing heavy bench press with a barbell. 

I helped him understand that it was quite possible that the elbow pain he was experiencing was likely due the the lack of alignment in his shoulder.  And it may be possible that merely stretching and aligning his shoulder could allow his elbow to reset itself.  If not, I had an excellent sports chiropractor I could refer.

Knowing him, I realized I was not likely going to talk him out of doing heavy bench press with a barbell.  At least not yet anyway. 

So I gave him a little taste of what I've been sharing you all this past month. We first went through some specific rotator cuff movements to warm the shoulder capsule.  Then I showed him some general stretches to open up the chest and shoulder area.  Followed by the movements from my previous posts this month, as well as the one below.

Whether it's to get rid of pain or avoid having it in the first place, don't neglect your shoulder -- rotator cuff work. 

Here's this week's shoulder saver.

Shoulder Pain?

I know you're going to think I made this up, but it is 100% true. 

Not more than a week ago, a client of mine expressed that he was having pain in his right shoulder and neck area, and couldn't figure out why. 

So we reviewed the new movements he was doing in his program -- actually had him go through a few of them.  No, those didn't seem to be creating any discomfort. 

We talked about his work -- the amount of hours sitting at his desk have actually gotten less over the past the few months. 

So we explored what has changed at home -- outside of the obvious -- he recently had a child.  --BINGO!--  Originally, he didn't notice it, but recently he's been picking his newborn up more, carrying him, and holding him for extended periods.  So far that has really been the only change that he can think of in his daily and weekly routine.

This is not the first time I've heard this.  Trainers, clients and friends have all commented at one time or another about one shoulder being more sore than the other a few weeks or months after having a child.

And 9 times out of 10, you know what else?

When they are consistent with their shoulder stretches and exercises the shoulder pain goes away -- mysteriously.

I shared this client's experience because I have worked with literally hundreds of people, that start using one shoulder more than the other, each for different reasons, and end up with the same, "I don't know what's going on, but this shoulder has really started bother me", experience. 

Shoulder pain can come from the most common activities that we do everyday and don't think about it for a second.  Whether it's a wonderful new addition to the family, the posture you sit/lay in while watching TV or reading the paper, a laptop, sleeping on your shoulders, or too many pressing movements at the gym.  Shoulder pain is often times just an issue of alignment.

Practice the stretches I've shared with you along with the shoulder movements from this month and you'll be out of shoulder pain fast!

Don't just take my word for it -- Try them.

Stop Shoulder Pain!

They say over 70% of people experience some form of back pain than that stops them from doing what they enjoy.  I'd be willing to bet at least that same amount of people experience some form of shoulder pain that does the same thing -- stop you from enjoying the life you deserve. 

Last week I shared with you that shoulder pain doesn't just come from doing lots of pressing movements in the gym, it can also come from just living life. The main thing to understand is that keeping your shoulders healthy requires specific exercises that you won't see the average gym person doing.

Why?

Because 9 times out of 10 most people train their body to create a certain look. Not taking into consideration how it functions. So most often you'll witness people training the muscles they can see, rather than the muscles that matter.  It doesn't matter what you look like if you can't do the things you truly enjoy doing.

I don't care if it's tennis, golf, boxing, softball, beach volleyball, rollerblading or gardening; as long as it's something you truly enjoy doing. Something that, when you do it, makes your hard week of work all seem worth it.  And the only way to be able to continue to do "that" activity or get you back to enjoying "that" activity, is to take good care of your body by training the muscles that matter as well as the ones you can see.

So here is the your next installment for getting you out of shoulder pain or making sure you don't ever have to experience it. 

Get Out Of Shoulder Pain!

Well, let's get right to it shall we.

This month I want to focus on helping you get out of shoulder pain.  Far too many people suffer from it and there is honestly no reason to continue to live with it. 

I can't tell you how many times I see someone getting up from doing a bench press and rubbing their shoulder.  Instant hint that there is something going on that's about to get much worse in the shoulder.  But shoulder exercises and rotator cuff exercises are not just for those that do bench pressing movements.  Heck No!


Spend your day hunched over a computer?

Carry your child around the mall or at the park?

Tend to carry your purse or laptop on one shoulder consistently?

Sleep on your shoulders?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, then this month is especially for you. 

Our shoulders take a beating day in and day out.  In our society we live our life in a forward posture all too often.  This constant forward posture can lead to all sorts of problems, from the obvious shoulder pain or discomfort, to neck pain, and yes, believe it or not, even lower back pain.

Everything is connected!

If you spend your day in poor posture, no matter what the reason, it's only a matter of time before your body starts giving you signals that something is wrong.  Now like most people you'll probably solve the problem by first avoiding the movements or activities that give you pain or discomfort.  But that is only a short term fix.  That's kind of like turning up the volume on the car radio when you hear a rattling noise in your car.  And as we all know, turning up the radio won't fix the rattle.  Likewise avoiding certain movements or activities won't make the problem in your shoulders go away either.

It's an alignment issue most likely. All of that hunching over the computer, sleeping on your shoulders, etc. all lead to creating a misalignment in your shoulders.  And like your car tires, a misalignment is only going to wear your shoulder joint out sooner.  But of course not before it gives you a great deal of pain in the process.

So every Friday this month I will share with you an exercise you can do to help re-align your shoulders.  But of course being me, I want to get as much out of the movement as I can, so I'm going to ask you to perform these movements using a Swiss Ball.  Using the Swiss Ball will force you to activate your core (think tensing your abdominal muscles).  In this way you'll get a bit of core training while getting your shoulder back in alignment.

Always remember, when performing these movements be sure to keep your shoulders and ears as far apart as possible.  The goal is to put your shoulders back in alignment, under your ears.  I also want to encourage you to keep as much space as you can between your shoulders and ears.  So during the movements be sure to reach for your ankles as you proceed backwards in each of the movements.

7-10 Minutes Is All It Takes

If you'll remember last week I shared with you 7 of The Most Important Stretches if you spend your day at a desk.  Well as promised here's the other half of the equation.  Stretching is only half of the solution to getting out of pain.  The other half is Massage. And if you can't get to a massage therapist as often as you'd like, self-massage is the next best thing.  It provides many of the same benefits, loosening tight muscles and breaking up scar tissue that accumulates from either working out or from poor posture for long periods of time (think sitting over a desk working).

Truth be known, it only takes 7 minutes to feel the relief of self-massage.  But if you really want to get all of the "bugs" out, and really break-up that tight tissue, try 15-30 minutes of the techniques I demonstrate in the videos below.  Whether it's 7 minutes, or 15-30 minutes, it's a small price to pay to get out of pain and stay that way.  And for those of you that are really serious about kicking pain out on it's ear, do your self-massage followed by your stretching and watch how fast you get results.

And if you don't have your own tube, please visit my store and pick up your Energy F/X Tube. I promise it will last much longer than you're average tube or roller. I use my Energy F/X Tube 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week with clients and it's still going strong over 1yr later!

Kurt Elder of Energy F/X Fitness gives a brief description of just what is Self-Myofascial Release (self-massage). http://www.energyfxfitness.com

Kurt Elder of Energy F/X Fitness gives a brief description and demonstration of how to use the Energy F/X Tube to perform self-massage (self-myofascial relea...

Kurt Elder of Energy F/X Fitness gives a brief description and demonstration of self massage for the upper body. http://www.energyfxfitness.com