5 Daily Stretches To Fix Tight Shoulders
We live in a society where success is measured by the amount of blood, sweat, and tears you put into your work. Naturally, it follows, that since we all desire to succeed, many of us end up working extremely hard, logging long hours, and wasting away our days in front of our desks. However, in doing so, we expose ourselves to stress and fatigue that eats away at our overall health and well-being.
Here’s where it all starts.
The physical strain from being hunched in front of a computer all day, combined with the stress and anxiety from work often comes at the expense of our shoulders. It’s true: If you look at the average office worker, you can see that they’re practically bowed at their desks with their shoulders turned inward. And that usually leads to even worse problems.
Tight shoulders can result in the following: shoulder joint and back pain, stiff traps and lats, lack of mobility, and a limited range of motion, among several others.
All these shoulder issues can make normal movements exponentially difficult. Not only do they affect the way you feel and function as you go about your day, they make even the simplest of tasks like reaching for an item on a high shelf, scratching your back, or even finding a proper sleeping position downright unbearable (see also: Shoulder Trigger Points For Bulletproof Shoulders).
Dr. Kelly Starrett mentions in his book,
that humans were not meant to sit all day. Instead, we were made to move and be active. Surely the fact that we have legs counts for something, right?
Starrett writes, “the cold, hard truth is that exercise will not reverse the potentially harmful and irrefutable effects that too much sitting has on our bodies”. In other words, we need to do more than just exercise in order to combat the negative effects of sitting, strange as that sounds.
If you feel you lack the time or funds to hire a professional trainer or book a gym membership, don’t lose hope. There is a solution!
Through research and years of experience in movement training, I prepared five of the simplest and most effective shoulder exercises you can add to your daily routine. Over time, these will not only address your shoulder mobility (or lack thereof) but also build your strength as you gain more confidence and flexibility. That means you can play your favorite sport and reach for the sugar at the top of the cupboard easily.
So let’s get started!
Shoulder dislocates with broomstick (weighted, if possible)
Our goal is to make your shoulders more flexible through hyperextension and flexion movements.
Shoulder dislocates are a great place to start because they're easy and can be done practically anywhere (within reason, of course).
How To Do It:
With both hands a little past shoulder-width apart, grab a broomstick and hold it out in front of you with both arms extended. If you don’t happen to have a broomstick, any rod-shaped household items (e.g. a curtain rod or shower rod) will suffice.
Elevate your shoulders and try to raise the bar in front of you then past your head, making sure to keep your hands steady and your grip firm.
If you can touch your lower back with the stick, congratulations, you are already very flexible! If you can’t reach your lower back, make it your goal to do so.
To increase your range of motion even further, repeat the exercise, but instead of starting with a wide grip, start with a slightly narrower one. Work in your hand grip as your shoulders loosen. You should feel a deeper stretch.
Dead hangs from bar
Dead hangs are not what you think. If you were picturing something out of a horror movie involving a dead guy roped to a tree in an eerie forest, you are clearly mistaken. A dead hang is a very simple exercise that requires a pullup bar or any other hanging bar that can handle your body weight.
Practicing dead hangs has the following benefits including: increasing grip strength, properly aligning and decompressing the spine, balancing out the shoulders, decreasing shoulder impingement and pain, and improving shoulder flexibility.
How To Do It:
Grab the bar above you with a pronated grip (palms facing away).
Slowly relax and extend your arms as you hang, making sure to stay sensitive to any pain. If you aren’t used to this yet, you could get injured.
Hang and make sure your ears are touching your shoulders. Hold this position.
This exercise will stretch your shoulder blades by creating space between your shoulder joints while alleviating pressure from your deltoids. Work on this for up to five minutes per day if you have really bad shoulders. In case your hand grip tires before the five minute mark, you may do assisted hangs by stepping on a platform. Doing so will help you carry your body weight on your shoulders and arms comfortably.
German Hangs
Compared to the two previous exercises, this one is by far the most complicated and challenging. I would not advise doing this exercise if you haven’t mastered the previous two.
A German Hang is a combination of a dead hang, shoulder dislocates with broomstick, and a core activating back tuck. Sound sounds complicated? Let’s break it down.
How To Do It:
Find a pullup bar or a pair of Olympic rings where you can hang comfortably with your arms extended. As we discussed earlier, this is what you call a Dead hang and it will serve as the starting position for this exercise.
Flex your core, tuck your knees to your chest, and ball up, bringing your back parallel to the floor.
Continue to tuck backward until your knees are parallel to the ground. You should really feel the stretch by now.
Of course, the German hang isn’t complete until you straighten your legs and let gravity work it’s magic. By now, you should look like an upside down “L”. And that’s where you hold. For an even greater stretch, extend your arms further down.
Skin the cat on bars or rings
By now you might be thinking: “Why do all these exercises sound so gruesome and unpleasant?” In reality, these workouts are only gruesome and unpleasant if you have tight shoulders (read: if you lead a sedentary lifestyle). This exercise is a combination of the three previous exercises, but now with repetitions involved.
How To Do It:
Start in a Dead Hang position.
Back tuck into a German Hang.
You’re now halfway done! Tuck your legs back into your chest.
Front tuck your way back into the Dead Hang position.
Repeat.
Because the rings are free moving, using them can be more challenging because the momentum of your body will engage more of your core as you try to stay stable while gravity pulls you in the opposite direction. Rings can also be more advantageous because it is easier to widen your grip and tuck your body into that upside down “L” position (German hang).
Movements like these aren’t something you just get into. Skin the cat requires an advanced degree of shoulder mobility so a proper warm-up prior to the exercise is advisable (see: 5 Best Myofascial Tools To Get Ridiculously Mobile).
Sideline Thoracic Rotations with Arm Reach
Everything in your body is connected in one cohesive kinetic chain with your core at the very center. Whether you’re running, lifting, or just doing everyday tasks like going up the stairs, the force produced as you move either originates from your core or travels right through it.
That being said, it isn’t enough that we just stretch our shoulders.
Why? Because the source of force produced almost always comes from our core. Sideline Thoracic rotations are an effective stretch because they involve more muscles compared to the previous stretches. Not only are do they stretch your shoulders; that also work surrounding supporting muscles such as your pectoralis minor, rhomboids, traps, serratus anterior, and levator scapulae. All these muscles are a part of your thoracic region and which play a huge part in protecting your spine. Setting up for this stretch isn’t as demanding as having a bar to hang from, although it helps to have support in the form of a foam roller or a pillow. This stretch is a favorite among the side sleepers and cuddlers out there and let me show you why.
How To Do It:
Begin by lying on your side, crossing one leg over the other, and bending the upper leg to 90 degrees at the knee.This is where the pillow and foam roller come in. You may opt not to use them but if you’re feeling uncomfortable and want more stability, place one under your bent upper leg.
Slowly extend both arms/hands together until they are straight out in front of you.
Start the movement by sliding your top head up towards overhead, drawing a large circle until your hand is reaching towards the way your back faces with your palm now facing up. Your chest should be quite opened up and stretched out and the palms of your hands should be facing the sky; the upper half of your body will now look like the letter “T” but with bent legs of course. Return the top arm back to the starting position by drawing the reverse circle.
Repeat this for as many reps then switch over to the other side. Make sure to take deep breaths while doing this.
If you find the upper leg going up further up or disconnecting from your lower leg as you perform the exercise, you may hold down your top leg with your off hand (belonging to the bottom arm that stayed stationary during the movement). You may also use light weight to during the movement. Holding onto weight with that top arm as it opens up, gives you a deeper stretch. Purely personal preference here.
This is personally one of my favorite stretches because it not only stretches your shoulder girdle but also develops and ensures mobility and stability in your thoracic and lumbar spine. A must do for people with lower back pain!
All these exercises have been proven by professionals as an effective way of correcting tight shoulders. Adding these stretches to your daily routine will not only loosen up your tight shoulders but will also stretch, strengthen, and stabilize supporting muscles groups.
Do these exercises regularly and you will start to move more efficiently and confidently. I strongly suggest you check out Dr. Kelly Scarllett’s book, Deskbound: Standing Up To A Sitting World for a more in-depth discussion on inactivity, its consequences, and remedies.
Now that you know how to do the stretches and realize the benefits that come out of it, what are you waiting for? Get moving now!
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