Home Exercises for the Rough Shoulder.
Last updated Monday, October 09, 2006
Stretching
Your opposite arm is a great therapist for your rough shoulder. Your
"therapist arm" is always available to apply a gentle stretch in any
direction of tightness. Each of these gentle stretches needs to be held
up to a count of 100.Stretching exercises The basic program includes the exercises illustrated here:
- Getting the arm up overhead while lying down (view diagram or
 movie) - Getting the arm up overhead while sitting (view diagram or movie)
- Getting the arm up overhead with a pulley (view movie).
- Getting the arm to externally rotate while lying down (view diagram or movie) and while standing (view diagram or movie).
- Getting the arm up the back (view diagram or movie)
- Getting the arm across the body (view diagram or movie).
If other directions of roughness are identified, they can be
stretched with a similar approach. An important principle of the
stretching exercises is to allow your muscles to relax so that the
stretch can be applied to the soft tissues without muscle interference.
Tissues of a tight shoulder do not like to be stretched suddenly,
roughly, or with a lot of force. Thus the strategy is to apply a gentle
stretch so that at most minimal soreness results. Any soreness should
go away within 15 minutes after you stop the exercises.
You should carry out this shoulder stretching sequence three times a
day. As much as possible, these sessions should be performed after the
shoulder has been relaxed by a hot shower, bath, or aerobic exercise.
For each stretch, make a note of the maximum range obtained with each
session. Try to establish a new "bench mark" each time you do them, so
that you can see your progress each time.
The beauty of this exercise program is that you are in control. You
can adjust the vigor of the stretching to do what is most easily
tolerated by your shoulder. The exercise program is totally portable
and can be performed in your home, office, car, the bus, the airplane,
or wherever you happen to be. This is important because consistency in
this exercise program pays off. If pain results from the exercise
program, do not stop or change the frequency of your exercise sessions,
just reduce the vigor of the stretches so that they become comfortable.
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