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Sep 05
2019

Find Shoulder Pain Relief In These Easy Exercises

Looking for some shoulder pain relief? If you feel like a little stretching here or there might relieve the problem, here are some great exercises to try for shoulder pain relief.

Exercises For Shoulder Pain Relief

Doorway Stretch

Begin this exercise by standing in a doorway, as if you were getting ready to exit through the door. Grab each side of the frame of the door. Make sure your hands are no higher than your shoulders, slightly below is even better.

Bracing yourself against the doorway, step forward with one foot and gently lean into the stretch. You should feel this stretching the front of your shoulders. Hold for up to 30 seconds and repeat three times or as directed by your physical therapist.

Arm Pendulum

You can begin this exercise by standing next to a table or chair for support. Lean forward, bending almost, but not completely to a 90 degree angle from your waist. Place the arm closest to the table or chair on it for support. Let the other arm dangle straight down and hang loosely toward the floor.

Slowly and gently make circles with your hand while your arm hangs in the air. Start out with small circles and gradually increase them to become larger. Reverse direction of the circles. Repeat for both arms if you need to stretch both shoulders. Complete this exercise up to ten times a day or as directed by your physical therapist.

Lawn Mower Pull 

You can use a resistance band to help you complete this exercise. Begin this exercise standing with your feet shoulder width apart. One end of the resistance band should go under your foot. Choose the foot opposite from your sore shoulder. Grab the band on the other end with the hand of the same side of the body as your sore shoulder. This should end up making a diagonal across your body with the resistance band.

Bending at your waist, pretend you are starting a lawn mower and slowly follow the motion of the resistance band from down to up across your body, pulling your elbow across your body. Pull your shoulder blades together as you go up and be sure to not lock your knees. Repeat three times in sets of 10 or as directed by your physical therapist.

While these exercises can help to stretch out and move sore shoulders, if your shoulder pain is from an acute injury, or if you are unable to raise your arm, have pain, a deep ache, or swelling contact your practitioner.

[Related article: Activities To Avoid To Prevent Shoulder Pain]

For help in alleviating shoulder pain, schedule  a consultation with a physical therapist at Above & Beyond Physical Therapy in Queen Creek or Phoenix contact us today.