Health Essentials - Shoulder Exercises
Hey there! Dr. Fedich here with a simple shoulder exercise to help your shoulders feel better. We just need two things: a lightweight (a soup can works just as well) and one of these rubber bands. If you don’t have one, ask us—we have them here.
A couple of things we’ll do to warm up the shoulders. First, we’ll do some arm swings. It’s really important to lean over and hold on to something with your other hand, like a desk or a chair. With the weight or soup can in your hand, let it dangle down, and then do 10 circles to the right and 10 to the left. What I’m doing now is the wrong way—don’t let your shoulders do the work. Instead, lean over something and swing your body to open up the shoulders. The shoulder shouldn’t be doing anything; it’s the body that’s swinging.
Next, we’ll do a simple exercise called “arms up the wall.” A lot of times, we have trouble raising our arms. To do this, stand against the wall and slowly bring your arms up the wall. If you feel tightness, just hold it there. Gradually creep up a little further and hold for a couple of seconds, then back it up.
So, arms up the wall comes after the arm circles. Now we’ll work on some strengthening. If you don’t have one of these bands, we’ll give you one. Take a sturdy door and make sure it’s securely closed. We’re going to do internal and external rotations. Keep your elbow up against your body, grab the band, and take out a little slack. Rotate externally. Do three sets of 10 on both sides, then switch to internal rotation. Take a step closer, keep your elbow tight against your side, and bring it in. Do three sets of 10 for internal rotation as well.
Then, flip around and face the door. We’ll do external rotation again. Elbow tight against your side, and perform the rotation. Again, do three sets of 10, using a nice light weight.
To recap, here’s the routine:
- Do 10 arm circles, using your body to swing (not the arm), 10 to the right and 10 to the left.
- Do the arms up the wall, bringing your arms up slowly and holding if you feel tightness.
- Use the band for external rotation (elbow tight to the side), then internal rotation, three sets of 10 for each side.
Repeat this routine every day with three sets of 10, and your shoulder will feel much better.
