Unlock Your Shoulders! Top 10 Stretches to Relieve Tightness & Pain

these are 10 of the best stretches to loosen up tight shoulders and help them to feel better fast because your shoulders should be very Mobile in fact it's the most mobile joint in your body it should move freely in lots of different directions but if it is tight or stiff or limited just not moving the way that it should this can be a precursor for pain and other problems setting in and so these stretches the ones that I want to show you in this video will not only help to improve shoulder Mobility now but can be a way of decreasing pain and even preventing pain in the future now 10 stretches is a lot and I definitely don't recommend you do all of these for your shoulder but what I would encourage you to do is identify three to five that help your shoulder to feel the best and then perform those daily even a couple of times a day would be beneficial the first couple of stretches I have for you are going to be standing up we are going to need something to help us stretch um personally I've got a golf club that's my favorite but then a broom or a dowel or a mop a piece of PVC pipe a cane something about that size all work well also our first stretch is going to be an extension stretch we typically get tight through the front part of our shoulder this is how we stretch that out I've got the golf club I'm going to put one end in the affected side so let's say my right shoulder is the one that I'm stretching left hand goes to the other side of the golf club and then I'm going to use my left hand to push my right hand behind me in this Arc motion as far as I comfortably can stretching should be comfortable push it back behind you until you get a good stretch right here through the front of the shoulder this works great for the biceps biceps tend in front of the shoulder and rotator cuff just until we get a good comfortable stretch hold that for 20 seconds and repeat it three times second stretch is going to be into this external rotation range of motion so I want you to bend your effect side to a 90° at the elbow and then we're going to put one end of the stick in the affected hand the other hand goes to the other end now in this position I want you to maintain that 90° Bend I'm using my left to push my right out in that direction again just until I get a good stretch kind of through the front of the chest and through the front of the shoulder this is the I'd say maybe beginner version of this if your shoulder is really tight you're only going to be able to get kind of right there before you start to meet tightness and resistance but that's a good option on this I've got a way that I like maybe a little bit better that I'll show you here in just a second but this is a good way to start the parameters would be the same 20 seconds repeated three times now my personal favorite stretch with the golf club or broom or mop whatever it is that you're using in standing is going to be an external rotation stretch in this abducted position and so to explain what that means um I'm going to get the golf club and put it in my hand and then the golf Golf Club goes back behind my elbow so it looks just like that okay we're going to hold it in that position I'm going to raise my shoulder up keep the elbow bent to a 90° now with my other hand I'm going to reach over and I'm going to grab the golf club right down here and then pull that towards you so you can see I'll go from the side here as I pull the golf club forward you can see that it externally rotates my arm at my shoulder okay so like right here we're straight up up and down but then as I pull on this I can externally rotate through that shoulder and it's just a really good stretch this is a really effective way of doing it it is kind of aggressive I'll show you some other options here later in the video but this is honestly one of my favorites and the parameters are still the same on this we're going to hold 20 seconds and repeat that three times the next three stretches are going to be down on your floor we'll start with the other option for that external rotation stretch lay down down on your back um now with this one we're going to say my left arm is the one that's affected I do have a small towel under here you can also use a pillow to kind of prop your elbow up a little higher that keeps your shoulder in a more comfortable position but now right here what we can do it's it's a way that we can kind of turn the biceps off as opposed to that standing stretch that I demonstrated first and so I'm still going to put the head of that Golf Club in my affected hand keep this elbow bent to this 90° and now I'm going to use this un ected side to push out as far as I comfortably can now I find that I can go a little further with this and so if you have a little more Mobility this might be a really good option for you but we're going to push just until we feel a good stretch right through the front of that shoulder this is a great stretch for those rotator cuff muscles in there we're going to hold that 20 seconds and repeat it three times um the next stretch is going to be uh one of my favorite this is going to be an inter internal rotation stretch kind of hits the other rotator cuff muscles I'm going to lay down on my side on my affected side so this is my left arm I'm going to lay down on that left side and bring the elbow up here a little high now if my weight is stacked right on top of that that can be painful try to rotate backwards open your chest up towards the ceiling just a little bit to relieve some of that pressure now the affected side I'm going to bend to this 90° angle so that my f is straight up at the ceiling right now with my unaffected hand I'm going to grab the back of my wrist and then use that unaffected hand to rotate my arm down towards the table oh man that one that that's tight I'm not going to lie this is one that I do regularly just because you're going to feel that right in the back of that shoulder right in those rotator cuff muscles that's right in those external rotators as we're pushing into this internal rotation motion um and that one it's like a for me it's like a Hurts So Good type thing like I know I need to stretch more in that direction and that feels really good to me and so I'd hold that for 20 seconds and then I would repeat that three times now the other motion that gets tight in people is the we call it the inferior capsule um our arms are usually hanging down to our side we rarely get them up overhead and therefore in our armpit can get tight um if that's the case this is probably one of my favorite stretches to help with that I'm going to kneel down um and then with my affected side so I'm going to say my right side's the affected one I'm going to slide that forward with my palm up that puts your shoulder in a better position than if we do this with the Palm down so I'm externally rotating at my shoulder Palm is up right here with my unaffected hand I'm going to put that right on my wrist and kind of lock it into place so I don't want that to move now what I can do is sit down onto my heels and again my wrist didn't move but I'm trying to sit my torso back that way until I get a good stretch and for me I get that one in my lat so like right here but also up into my armpit and that's how I know I'm in the right place that's how I know I'm in that inferior capsule in the shoulder this is one I give this one to patients regularly and as this loosens up shoulder pain and overhead motion really start to improve so this is definitely one that I recommend that you try out um parameters on this are going to be the same as the others we're going to hold that for 20 seconds and then repeat that three times now these last stretches are some of my personal favorite you're going to do them in a doorway I'll demonstrate them for you right here in my squat rack the first one I call a doorway stretch you're going to stand with both hands kind of down here at hip level with your palms on either side of that door frame now with really good posture keep your chest up nice and tall you're going to take a step into that door way and try to lean onto that front foot again just until we get a good comfortable stretch right here front of the chest through the front of the shoulder maybe down into the biceps tendon a little bit and hold that in a comfortable position for 20 seconds and then we're going to repeat that three times another good option with this is you can bring your hands a little bit higher like up around chest or shoulder height and then do the same thing that kind of moves the stretch into a little bit different area you can kind of play around with those options and see what feels best for you the next stretch that I love in the doorway is going to be an external rotation stretch really similar to the one with the golf club that I showed you earlier to do that we're going to get into this 90 position 9090 Dee position right up here and then just put my hands on the door frame again your door frame is not going to be as wide as my squat rack so you'll be able to get basically your entire forearm onto that door frame in that position what we can do is step forward to get a good stretch but what I like to do is kind of step forward and lean down a little bit until we get into more of that external rotation motion you can do both hands or if you want if you're just painful in one shoulder and you really want to focus and isolate on that this is what that would look like right here same parameters we're going to hold that for about 20 seconds we can repeat that three times you can do both sides of the same time or you can just do one side and then the other now if your shoulder is really painful and especially like reaching and overhead motions we can stretch into that a doorway is a great way to get there I'm going to demonstrate in this direction what you're going to do is use your hands on the side of the door frame and we're going to grab the molding or the the wood that's around that door frame and you can kind of use your hand to like inch your way up a lot of times if it's painful to just reach up or if you're limited in that motion you can kind of use your fingers to inch up a little bit higher get as high as you can comfortably go and then we're just going to unlock the knees a little bit to introduce more of this overhead motion to it that's a great way to stretch into this flexion into this overhead motion you'll probably get some stretching through the armpit with that one that's a great call it beginner option or if your shoulder's really painful that's where I'd recommend that you start if your shoulder's not very painful but it is tight or stiff what we can do is just go straight into the hang stretch um I've got a uh pullup bar right here if you don't have that available um a door frame is another great option and so what we're going to do is hook our fingers on top of that door frame for me I'm going to hook right on here on top of my squat rack get to where it's just a comfortable stretch and then I can just barely so I'm just going to unlock my knees and so as I unlock my knees I'm going to introduce more of my body weight into this downward force and I really get that good stretch that's right here in my left flat that's also right in my armpit I know that's right into that inferior capsule and so I'm not hanging from this that's very important you don't feel like it don't feel like you have to hang completely but we're just putting a little more pressure through that arm and through that shoulder that's a great way to stretch that inferior capsule and also introduce some decompression into your shoulder we're basically taking the ball in socket we're creating a little more space in there by pulling it out by using this traction force and so hang as long long as you can like 10 to 20 seconds is a good number to shoot for and repeat that three times now don't forget to strengthen especially your rotator cuff along with your shoulder stretches here's the video that I recommend for that hit the circle right here if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet I'd love to see you back for more videos hope this helps hope to see you again soon

Channel: Tone and Tighten

Views: 34,874

Keywords: Tight shoulders, tight shoulders stretch, tight shoulder exercises, tight shoulder stretches, tight shoulder muscles, stretches for tight shoulders, stretches for tight shoulders and neck, stiff shoulder stretches, exercises for tight shoulders, stretching exercises for tight shoulders, fix tight shoulders, fix stiff shoulders, how to stretch shoulders, how to stretch shoulders after workout, how to stretch shoulder muscles, Jared Beckstrand, Tone and Tighten

Id: Bv2iBmyKJMQ

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 22 2024