00:00There are millions and millions of people worldwide who have shoulder issues, but here's
00:06the tricky part.
00:08Many of them, many of us, don't realize there's a problem because you're not in pain, but
00:14you have limitation of motion, meaning that if I ask you right now, lift your arm up,
00:19go ahead, lift it up, all the way up.
00:21Can you lift it comfortably where it goes over your head, up high to the sky?
00:27Can you lift it outwards?
00:28Okay, right here is where I'm feeling my problem.
00:31When I use the other arm, no problem here.
00:34But this wasn't killing me until I get to that point.
00:37So the purpose of these stretches is to get mobilization in the shoulder joint because
00:45a frozen shoulder called adhesive capsulitis is a capsule that starts to get thickened.
00:52You start developing scar tissue, fibrous tissue.
00:55You have the rotator cuff in there, you have the tendons, the ligaments, the nerves, as
00:59well as inflammation.
01:02And whenever we have something that's not working correctly in the shoulder, other areas
01:07surrounding that area, the neck and the shoulder blade, other parts of the body will compensate.
01:16So therefore you may be having headaches coming from your shoulder.
01:20You may notice that your motion in your neck is limited because you have limitation in
01:24your shoulder because a lot of these muscles that affect our neck and mid-back affect our
01:29shoulder as well.
01:30The shoulder is very, very complex.
01:33So I like you to follow along with these simple exercises and stretches.
01:38They're safe, they're effective.
01:41There's lots of other strengthening things you can do later, but if you can gain your
01:45mobility back, then you're on your way to getting well again.
01:51Without mobility, without function, you're going to always have those particular problems.
01:55Remember, the longer the problem sticks around, the worse it's going to get and harder it's
02:01going to be to correct.
02:02It always makes sense to try to correct it as early as possible so you can gain those
02:08benefits and get that freedom back in your shoulder once again.
02:12One of my favorite exercises for all shoulder problems is called the finger walk.
02:17All you do is walk up to a wall like this and take your bad shoulder that you're working
02:22on and walk it up just like this.
02:25You'll notice you get to a point to where, ah, it hurts.
02:28Hold it.
02:29Let the muscles ease up a little bit and work your way up the best you can.
02:33This is safe.
02:35Just walk it up to where you can tolerate it.
02:37Just as far as you can go, then you're going to walk it down again.
02:41You're going to do about 10 repetitions and as you proceed daily, as you walk it up, you'll
02:46notice you'll be able to go farther and farther and farther.
02:49Remember that once you get that motion, it's yours, you've got to get that mobility.
02:53It's very important.
02:55It's also a great thing to get in the habit of doing some light shoulder rolls.
03:00As you do these shoulder rolls, you're going to start isolating different muscles because
03:05you have surrounding muscles in the shoulder that are compensating from that limitation.
03:10So really get that rotation backwards.
03:14I'm not concerned about you going forwards.
03:16I'd like you to go backwards because most people who have shoulder issues, you're going
03:21to notice you're having rounding of the shoulders, pronation of the shoulders.
03:26Realize this could have came from sleeping incorrectly, could have been from an old injury,
03:30a fall, or just poor posture.
03:33Now one of the greatest exercises we can do for our shoulder is a pendulum.
03:38That's right.
03:39As it moves all around just like this.
03:41Now you can use a table, a chair, a couch, whatever you like.
03:46You got to lean over a little bit.
03:48As you lean over, you're going to let your bad arm hang.
03:50First, depending upon how bad your shoulder is, you're going to just do it just like this,
03:56the best you can with nothing in.
03:58So you're going to go in and out this way, then you go up and down, then you go a little
04:03diagonal, then you go the other diagonal.
04:07You'll just do this for a couple of minutes.
04:09Here you'll go clockwise, get that rotation of the joint, and then you'll go counterclockwise.
04:16You just spend a couple of minutes going through those motions.
04:19Now what I like about a light weight, here's a pound, okay, this is 16 ounces of water.
04:27You can hold the pound.
04:28What this does is opens the joint up in the shoulder, and now you can go front to back,
04:35side to side, angle to angle, and you can also go clockwise, and you'll feel a lot different
04:42in here with that little bit of weight, but start out really light, you don't need a lot
04:45of weight, and you're going to do that for a few minutes as well.
04:49This is extremely good to break down that scar tissue in that shoulder capsule.
04:55A towel can really come in handy to increase mobility, that if I can't lift this shoulder
05:00up, you can use a longer towel, you can use a shirt or anything that's long, that's convenient
05:05for you, but I'm going to take my good arm from behind and grab that towel, and I'm going
05:12to pull this towel back as it lifts this shoulder up.
05:18My shoulder is not working, in other words, I'm not actively using the muscles.
05:23I can let it come back down again and pull back again, okay?
05:27So don't be afraid to use a towel, you can take this bad shoulder here, and you can pull
05:33it, if you can't get as far with your hand, you can pull it out with a towel, you can
05:38pull it upwards, you can be creative.
05:41And if you have a broom or a long stick laying around, there's a few things you can do.
05:46With the shoulder joint, we want to get this mobility outwards and inwards, it's a really
05:53important motion to put back into the shoulder joint area, so we can take the stick behind
05:58us and grab it out here, use the good arm, and push outwards, and pull inwards, just
06:06like this, right against your buttocks, if I turn around, this is what it looks like,
06:11taking the good arm on my right side and pushing opposite, left and right, and you get that
06:18nice movement in there.
06:19Also, you can take the stick with your good hand, because now we're going to go in flexion,
06:25and put them close together, and you're going to take your good arm, which is my right arm
06:29here, my shoulder I can't lift up, and you're going to use this as like a partner, so as
06:35you're pushing up, look what's happening, this is just going up without you contracting
06:41the muscle, try to hold it up there best you can, let it back down.
06:45The object here is to try to get more mobility each time, don't push it, if this is all you
06:51can go, that's where you go today, but you'll notice as the days go on, before you know
06:56it, you'll be able to get it nice and high.
06:59Remember, when you get the motion, it's yours, and have that shoulder limitation that we
07:06can't lift it up or lift it out, get a chair, get on your knees, use a couch, whatever's
07:12easy for you, pull back away with your knees, try to keep your elbows as straight as possible,
07:20and what I'd like you to do is drop your body down, this is my bad shoulder, this is all
07:24you're able to go right now, but notice as your body goes down, you're going to increase
07:30mobility.
07:31So right here you're saying, this is all I can go, but challenge it lightly, and as you
07:36drop your body down, you start opening up the shoulder area, all within the joint, stretch
07:42in the tendons, stretch in the muscles, you just hold it there.
07:47What you can also do, you can lean away from it, just getting a different angle, and you
07:53can lean in the opposite direction, because every angle you lean or move is a different
08:00angle you're going to shift and stretch in your shoulder joint.
08:04We don't really appreciate our shoulders until we start having a problem, so I'd like you
08:11to start utilizing these stretches.
08:14You can pick and choose whatever works best for you, but I promise you, these stretches
08:19are extremely beneficial, and if you're having significant pain, problem, inflammation, or
08:26it's getting worse, I always recommend a follow-up with your doctor or specialist to further
08:34examine it and find out why, if it's an MRI scan, if it's other testing, whatever's medically
08:39necessary.
08:40I hope that you found this video informative.
08:43Please share it with your friends and family.
08:46Leave your comments below, and most important, make it a great day.
08:51I'm Dr. Alan Mandel.
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