Shoulder mobility exercises are a set of movements designed to improve the flexibility, stability, and range of motion of the shoulder joint. These exercises target the muscles, tendons, and ligaments surrounding the shoulder, aiming to enhance its ability to move freely and efficiently in various directions. Shoulder mobility exercises can help prevent injuries, alleviate stiffness, and enhance overall shoulder function, making them an essential component of any fitness or rehabilitation program.
1. Active Shoulder Internal Rotation
People struggling with their shoulder internal rotation often experience stiffness, instability, and weakness as a result of scapular dyskinesis; when one of the primary muscles involved (pectoralis minor) inhibits. But fortunately you can restore internal rotation through targeted mobility exercises; or integrate mobility drills into warm up/wind down routines to bring relief.
Start with a straightforward test to assess your shoulder internal rotation. While sitting near a wall, position your shoulders and forearms into a 90-degree “L” shape; if your arms can rotate to parallel with the floor within five rotations or closer, that indicates healthy internal rotation – otherwise perform some shoulder mobility exercises instead.
One of the most widely utilized stretches to increase shoulder internal rotation (IR) is known as “sitting figure 4” or pigeon stretch. Unfortunately, many people perform this exercise without first performing an appropriate shoulder internal rotation screen – an easy and quick way to determine whether more shoulder IR stretches or mobility drills need to be done.
To assess internal rotation, hold your arm in a 90-degree abducted position with your wrist flexed and held by a towel roll to ensure neutral horizontal positioning. Your tester will monitor you for compensatory scapular movement through verbal cueing or manual cueing and attempt to internally rotate as far as possible without your forearm popping off the wall.
Although the hand-behind-back method is commonly used to assess shoulder IR, its results can be biased by factors like shoulder flexion, adduction, extension and elbow flexion. Therefore it’s crucial that an objective measure be used. A screen can help provide this metric.
Due to this reason, goniometers are much more reliable than the traditional hand-behind-back method for measuring shoulder IR. By eliminating the need to estimate spinal level estimates and lessening joint effects that do not pertain to their purpose (i.e. calcifying data with numbers rather than categorical labels), as well as providing numeric rather than categorical data collection capabilities, and even pairing with an inclinometer for accurate scapular position measurement which is integral for accurate shoulder IR measurements.
2. Active Shoulder External Rotation
Shoulder movement can be challenging for athletes, yet external rotation should not be overlooked as it helps maintain the integrity of adduction and flexion motions in a rotator cuff, according to research published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. According to this research study, those who tend to favor right-hand dominant shoulders or those experiencing pain and stiffness should try external rotation exercises to aid rotator cuff integrity during these movements, according to studies such as this.
This study conducted an examination of 3176 individuals using a digital inclinometer (Plurimeter V) and goniometry to measure their range of motion (ROM). Active adduction, abduction and external rotation of their shoulders were measured actively using an instrument similar to what surgeons use in clinic. For this research project – which provided normative data on shoulder adduction/abduction/external rotation in healthy populations – recruitment from community populations took place with demographic information like age/sex/dominance being recorded.
As well as providing normative ROM values, this study also assessed the concurrent validity of inclinometry and goniometry when used to measure shoulder adduction, abduction and external rotation. The authors discovered that an inclinometer proved more reliable for measuring shoulder adduction and internal rotation, although neither tool provided accurate measures of external rotation. It was suggested by these authors that further research be conducted in order to confirm which measurement tools best represent shoulder adduction and external rotation measurements.
To complete this exercise, lie on your side with the shoulder under consideration resting against your body and straight elbow with thumb pointing skyward. Lift arm gradually until reaching end of its externally rotating range without discomfort; repeat on opposite side. Complete 8-12 repetitions without pain-inducing rotations on each shoulder before switching sides for testing purposes.
Eleazar recommends this exercise if you experience pain when lifting overhead and are right-hand dominant; she suggests adding it as part of your workout routine to improve retraction and rotation capabilities in your shoulder blades, which in turn affects how the shoulders move when reaching overhead. She states it as an effective way of firing up shoulder muscles before doing other rotation exercises such as shoulder shrugs or pendulum swings, for instance.
3. Active Shoulder Internal Extension
Reaching overhead and behind your back requires internal rotation of the shoulder joint, helping you access items on shelves or hang things from hooks. Rotator cuff muscles work hard in this process of controlling and maintaining the shoulder joint; tightness or weakness within this muscle group may limit this movement further, and could even be limited by an inferior quality shoulder joint.
There is a simple screen you can perform to check whether or not you have adequate internal rotation in your shoulders. Rotate your shoulders and forearms until they form an angle parallel with the ground, or more. If this test doesn’t pass, tightness and weakness in your shoulder joint could be to blame; physical therapists are available to guide patients safely through programs designed to restore passive shoulder range of motion (ROM) back to normal; starting off with using shoulder pulleys until mobility has returned then moving onto active assist range of motion exercises (AARoM exercises).
Active assist range of motion (AAROM) exercises to increase shoulder flexion can be done while sitting or standing with a cane or broomstick held by both arms – one good and one bad – held above your head in both hands, held with good hand holding on bad arm, as a cane is held between bad arm shoulder. Your good arm holds onto it while using bad arm to lift cane above you while using shoulder of bad arm to lift cane above. This increases shoulder flexion while forward and backward movement can further enhance movement.
This exercise targets the subscapularis muscle – one of the key rotator cuff muscles responsible for stabilizing and controlling shoulder movement – making this an excellent solution for people suffering from scapular dyskinesis or poor scapular stabilization resulting in pain and reduced range of motion in the shoulder joint. Furthermore, research suggests this could also benefit those who have had shoulder replacement as lack of extension could contribute to reduced functional range after replacement surgery (RTSA).
4. Active Shoulder External Extension
Active Range of Motion Exercise, commonly referred to as AAROM exercises, are one way to build overall muscle strength and joint mobility around your shoulder. They’re also essential in helping prevent ongoing injury after rotator cuff tears or surgeries – often performed without using weights or machines – although your physical therapist may suggest adding resistance bands into these movements in order to increase difficulty and strengthen surrounding muscles.
To perform this exercise, lie on your side with the shoulder you are working on in line with the rest of your body and slowly lift one arm upward towards the ceiling while keeping its direction in sync with that of the rest of your body. Hold this position for one to two seconds before slowly lowering it back down into its starting position – repeat this for 8-12 repetitions.
Your shoulder mobility exercise should focus on targeting the scapular and rotator cuff muscles involved with all types of shoulder movement, including protraction (pulling shoulder blades away from spine) and upward rotation, according to Eleazar. This shoulder mobility workout will do just that!
Shoulder flexion exercise is an active range-of-motion movement performed using your own muscles. While it’s particularly helpful for people recovering from shoulder injuries, anyone can benefit from doing the shoulder flexion exercise as it helps expand overall range of motion in your shoulder joint.
While your normal range of motion for your shoulder may include flexion, extension and external rotation, other factors may alter it such as age, sex, hand dominance, work history or movement patterns that could impact how it moves currently. Such variations could explain any discrepancies between what should be happening to you and the way things feel now.
As shown here, there are various strategies available to you to improve shoulder movement and mobility. Incorporating some of these movements into your daily workout regimen may help prevent injuries while increasing mobility; but always consult your physical therapist first when adding new movements into your routine.
