Neck & Shoulder Rehab

Disclaimer: These exercises are intended for patients who are under my care. They have been examined and appropriate exercises prescribed for their condition. If you are my patient and have questions or problems please contact me by phone or email or make an appointment to come in for a visit. If you come to this page and are not a patient approach them carefully. Any exercise can cause soreness or pain if not the right exercise for your condition. If you want to contact me please use email and I will promise to get back to you. For everyone, exercise is important but don't over do it. You can't get in shape overnight! More important is to be consistent and use proper form. At the start, if you think you're not doing enough that is probably just right. It is recommended that you do strengthening exercises every other day which gives the muscles a day to recover and will avoid problems as you proceed. Many find that doing lower body one day and upper body the next day works well. Check in occasionally and you will see more exercises added to the page. I have several more to add to the YouTube channel and more videos are in the planning stage. If you have any ideas please send them along.

Shoulder Exercises

Back-of-the-Shoulder Exercises

This is a good choice for a general shoulder/upper back exercise. The safest shoulder exercises and the place to start. It works several muscle groups at once. It is helpful for those who have a "head forward" posture, a common affliction. This helps to train you to keep your head back and over the line of gravity which puts much less strain on your neck and shoulder muscles. Do this consistently in combination with the mid-back (rhomboid muscles) stretch against the wall and you will see improvement in your chronic neck and shoulder tightness and pain. The video explains proper position and technique.

Mid-Back Stretch For Rhomboid Muscles

The rhomboid muscles, upper and lower, connect the scapula to the spine. They are often tight and a build up of metabolic waste products called a trigger point can refer pain to the surrounding area. Head forward posture, which happens with many types of jobs, causes tightness in the neck and upper back muscles, especially the rhomboid and trapezius muscles. This is a good stretch for the rhomboids and stretches the traps a little too. The video explains and demonstrates it well with the addition of chin tuck. Keeping your chin tucked as you do it encourages proper head position. This is a companion to the "closed chain" shoulder exercise above. The last exercise in this sequence to retrain neck posture and strengthen weak and sometimes tight muscles is the "chin tuck and lift" exercise. This last one is not yet on the site but is coming! Check back soon.

Rotator Cuff Exercise

This exercise is for a key rotator cuff muscle the infraspinatus. This exercise works just one muscle if done correctly unlike the exercises above which works several at once. In this type of exercise (sometimes called "open chain" exercise) the weight or resistance is placed away from the joint at the far end of the limb. They do have to be done carefully. But I have quite a lot of experience with all the exercises you see here. I have a very bad right shoulder with several torn tendons in the rotator cuff muscles. I have found these exercises very helpful and have not hurt myself doing them. I have to use a lower resistance tubing with the right shoulder and arm than the left so keep that in mind as you do them. Have a couple of colors (resistance levels) available. Start with low resistance to get the motion down and increase resistance and reps as they get easier.

Infraspinatus

This muscle at the back of the scapula is one of the most troublesome muscles in the shoulder. Trigger points in the infraspinatus refer pain to the lateral arm and sometimes all the way to the elbow and wrist. Of all these "open chain" exercises this one will help the most if done consistently. Working the muscle like this strengthens a key rotator cuff muscle and can flush out the trigger point, reducing the referred pain.

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