Shoulder Stiffness Relief

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Upper-Back

Do you have upper back or shoulder stiffness? Try some of these home exercises to improve your upper-body mobility and strengthen your shoulders. All you’ll need is a foam roller and a resistance band.

Warm-up and mobility:

  • Shoulder and neck mobilizations: 15x each
  • Upper-back extension over a foam roller: 3 different spots, 10x *Don’t go into your low back
  • Open books: 15x each
  • Scapular complex: 10x each

Strengthen:

(keep your shoulder blades down and lightly squeezed together throughout each exercise: 3×10 each)

  • Side-lying shoulder external rotation: add a towel roll or pillow under your arm (better rotator cuff activation)
  • Banded As
  • Banded Ws: add a press-up for a challenge
  • Banded Ys
  • Banded rows

Stretch:

  • Cross-body stretch *Keep your shoulder blade engaged downward before you gently pull on your arm. You should feel this in the back of the shoulder.
  • Child’s pose *You can use a stability ball, foam roller, or chair to roll into the stretch

Watch Video Demo: