By Lisa Snow, personal trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist

Are your shoulders feeling tight or sore?  While I generally recommend foam rolling, it tends to work better for larger muscle groups such as the quads (front thighs), hamstrings (back thighs), ITB (outer thighs), and upper back.  The shoulders generally benefit from a gentler approach.  First, see if you are restricted in either internal or external rotation.

Try standing with your back to the wall.  Then reach your elbows out wide, and try to bring your hand up to the wall beside your head (external rotation), and down toward your waist (internal rotation), without your head, upper back, butt, or elbows moving off the wall.  Don’t force it, but notice which direction feels tighter.  Also observe whether the right or left shoulder is tighter.  If possible, have a friend take a couple of photos with your camera or phone, showing the range of motion you have on each shoulder.  If you choose to work on shoulder mobility with a massage therapist and/or personal trainer, you’ll be amazed to look back at your “before” photos six months from now!

 

Many people find that their external rotation is weaker, and strengthening the muscles that do that motion tends to get a lot of attention from both trainers and physical therapists.  But an equally common problem – tightness on internal rotation – often goes ignored.   One stretch you can try by yourself is to reach overhead with one hand (as if you’re about to do a tricep stretch), holding a towel.  Reaching behind your back, grab onto the towel with your other hand.  Try to climb down the towel with your top hand, and/or up the towel with your bottom hand.  Go slowly!  If it hurts, you went too far.  Just backtrack an inch instead of giving up on the stretch.  If you’re working with a massage therapist or a physical therapist who does a lot of manual therapy, ask them whether releasing your pecs (including pec minor), lats, coracobrachialis, rhomboids, and other surrounding muscles might be helpful.

 

Lisa Snow is a Manhattan personal trainer specializing in customized fitness for older adults and post-rehab for all ages.