Exercises for Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain can become a serious condition, if treatment is ignored. An injury to the shoulder muscle while playing a sport often causes severe pain. In this condition, the tendon that helps us to perform circular motion, is sore. The part of the shoulder that plays an important role in executing circular motion is known as rotator cuff. Basically, these are a group of muscles that allow the shoulder to move freely. A natural way to heal your shoulder pain is to perform some exercises specifically recommended for shoulder pain. An aerobic program can also help to improve the flow of blood in the tendon, thereby reducing the soreness.

Simple exercises can help you to relieve shoulder pain. Most patients having shoulder pain, experience a great deal of improvement in their condition after regularly performing a specific set of exercises. Pain can be effectively managed by undergoing physical therapy for shoulder pain, which is nothing but performing some specific exercises. Surgery in most cases is not required, as exercise has the power to diminish the shoulder pain forever. However, strenuous exercises should not be performed as they can aggravate the condition. So if one wants to get rid of his shoulder pain then the following exercises could help them.

Rotator Cuff Exercises

In all the exercises, mentioned below, you have to hold light weights and then perform the exercise slowly. You can repeat each of the following exercises as long as you are comfortable doing it. Once you are comfortable doing the exercises, you can slightly increase the weight every week. Exercises mentioned below will surely help in strengthening the rotator cuff.

Exercise One
Lie on your stomach, on a bed or a table. Position your affected arm with elbow bent to 90 degree at shoulder level. Bring the hand straight down. Try to raise your hand slowly up to the shoulder level. Lower your affected arm slowly. Repeat this procedure, until you feel tired. You can also do this exercise with your other arm.

Exercise Two
Start doing this exercise by lying down on your right side. Ensure that you have a towel rolled up exactly under your right arm pit. Your right arm should be straight and exactly above your head. The elbow of your left arm should be bent at 90 degrees and the forearm should rest against your chest with palm down. Raise the left forearm up to the shoulder level. This exercise is similar to a backhand swing in the game of tennis. Very slowly lower the arm. Repeat this exercise until you get tired. Then repeat this procedure using the other arm.

Exercise Three
This exercise has to be performed while you are standing. Both the arms should be straight holding some quantity of weights. Raise your right arm, until it makes an angle of 45 degrees with your body. Do not lift the weight beyond that level. Now lower the arm slowly. Repeat this exercise until your arm gets tired.

Other Exercises for Shoulder Pain

Apart from other exercise routines mentioned above, one can also do the following exercises to relieve pain and restore full range of shoulder movement. Managing shoulder discomfort due to an injury is definitely possible with these exercises.

Assisted Flexion
Assisted flexion exercise is yet another way to improve impaired shoulder movement. Firstly, lie on the back and then join your hands together with elbow straight. Now, slowly raise your arms, ensuring that the elbow does not bend. Keep on moving your arm until it is well above your head. The stretching action of assisted flexion exercise certainly works to reduce the stiffness of shoulder joint. Repeat this movement of arms 8 - 10 times or as long as you are comfortable doing it.

Shoulder Active Abduction
With palm facing the body and elbows straight, begin to lift your arm side ways. Stop raising the arm when it makes an angle of 90 degrees with your body. Let the arm be in this position for a few seconds before finally moving the hand down to its original position. With each set consisting of 3 repetitions, perform 3 sets daily to control shoulder pain.

Pendulum Shoulder Exercise
Start this exercise by leaning forward along the waist in such a way that your back makes an angle of 90 degrees with the legs. Allow your healthy arm to rest on a chair. Now with your injured arm freely hanging, firstly move it to-and-fro similar to a pendulum. Do this 10 times and now switch over to another movement that involves moving the injured arm in a circular fashion. You can move your hand in both clockwise and anti clockwise direction. Quite a few patients do these movements while holding a lightweight (approximately 2 pounds). Initially, you might not be comfortable holding the weight but with the passage of time as the pain subside, there won't be any issue in using the weight.

Hand Behind Back Exercises
As the name suggests, the exercise involves touching the back with the hand. Although this is easy for an uninjured arm, it is not a simple task for an injured shoulder. Firstly, with your elbow bent and palm not facing the body, put your hand on the back. Now, in this position, try moving the hand upwards as much as possible. Be in this position for around 5 seconds and then slowly come back to the original position. Repeat this shoulder movement 10 times and perform this exercise routine at least twice a day.

Caution

Keep in mind that the main purpose of engaging oneself in these exercises is to reduce shoulder discomfort. However, if the exercise routine is not helping in any way to improve shoulder pain and in fact is aggravating discomfort, one must stop these shoulder exercises immediately and consult a doctor at the earliest. Also, one should not do any exercise before the first 48 hours after injury. Start the exercise routine only when you are comfortable moving the injured shoulder to a certain extent.

On the whole, relieving shoulder pain after injury is not difficult if these exercises are done regularly in a correct manner. It is indeed an easy way to reduce the duration of shoulder pain.