Today I'm going to show you a stretch you can do for pain near the back of your shoulder. So, very commonly do we see that type of pain, and the way we assess that in the office, we'll have the patient lying on their back actually, when we do this, what we want to see is a full 180-degree arc in the shoulder. What I mean by that is when you come up like this, we want to make sure we get 180 degrees from there to there. So, if you're doing this test standing straight up and down, you can come up here okay. But you're having trouble getting to that full 180 degrees. And this motion is very tough for you. This is the perfect stretch for you to do at home. So, stay tuned and we'll show you that stretch.
So, we've established that you're lacking on that internal rotation of the shoulder that's tough. Maybe you feel a little bit of pain with that. Here's a good stretch you can do at home. You'll just need a wall or a couch or something that you can lay up against. I'm going to just put my back flat up against the wall. Feet flat up against the wall to maintain my angles and make sure your shoulder is not like this. You want to make sure the back shoulder is all the way flat up against the wall. From there, we're going to keep our angles at 90 degrees. So, I'm going to have 90 degrees here between my shoulder and my torso and 90 degrees here between my elbow and my forearm. So, two 90-degree angles.
From there, we're going to let our shoulders fall in, one quick caveat with that. As you do that, if your shoulders are really tight, you'll notice your elbow slide in with it. Don't let that happen. If you feel that happening, just brace with your other hand, let it fall to the point where it stops on its own. From there, we're going to apply a quick downward pressure on the hand. Just a very slight pressure. I'm not pushing. It's almost like just slightly more than gravity. And you're just going to hold this for 30 to 45 seconds. You should feel a good stretch behind the shoulder. As with any stretch I ever show you, if there's pain during the stretch, you stop right away. This should feel good. This is a no pain, no gain situation.
And also with any stretch, you're always looking to flirt with the edge of your comfort zone. This isn't jamming it down till the range of motion's full, it's going to take a process and persistence to get you to that point where you need to be.
If you have any questions or please do not hesitate to reach out!
DrJesse@WaldwickChiropractic.com
Jesse J. Suess, DC CCSP®
Waldwick Family Chiropractic, LLC
22 Wyckoff Ave., Suite 1
Waldwick, NJ 07463
(201) 972-6121
drjesse@waldwickchiropractic.com
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