Pinching in shoulder? Not anymore! Pinching most commonly occurs when reaching overhead and can be quite painful by trying to perform the simplest of tasks. Reaching for that coffee mug up in the cabinet is so important in the mornings! Pain won’t be keeping you from getting your liquid cup of gold anymore. Try this exercise progression to improve shoulder biomechanics, stability, and strength to reduce that pinching sensation.
**This is not medical advice. Please consult your medical provider for more information.
Level of Difficulty: Easy
supine bruegger flexion
Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place a loop around your wrists. Lift your arms up over your head while keeping your elbows flexed. Try to keep your wrists, elbows, and shoulders in alignment – don’t let your elbows drift outwards.
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Combined Movements: flexion, scaption, and abduction
For this exercise, we are going to combine multiple planes of movement. You will perform this exercise reaching into shoulder flexion (directly in front of you), scaption (at a 45 degree angle to the side), and abduction (straight out to the side).
Grab a resistance band and wrap it around your back. You will hold one end in each hand, slightly wrapping it around the forearm of the arm you will be performing the exercise on. Your other hand will serve as an anchor point (see video).
Keeping your elbow flexed at 90 degrees, lift your arm up in front of you to shoulder height and bring it back to the starting position. Then reach your arm out at a 45 degree angle to the side up to shoulder height and back to the start. The last phase of this movement involves lifting the arm straight out to the side up to shoulder height. Completing all three planes of movement counts as one repetition. Perform 1-2 sets of 10 reps.
A reminder to keep your scapular stabilizers engaged throughout!
Level of Difficulty: Hard
Pike
While this exercise is mainly known as a core exercise, it can also be used for shoulder stability and strengthening, especially when dealing with pinching in the shoulder.
This exercise teaches proper shoulder mechanics when the arm is fixed. With your legs balancing on a swiss ball and your arms fixed to the ground, flex your hips up pulling from your core and your shoulders up into a pike position. Make sure to stabilize through your shoulders at the top of the movement! This step is crucial!
TL;DR
Experiencing pinching in the shoulder? Try this progression of exercises from easy to difficult to improve shoulder biomechanics, stability, and strength to reduce that pinching sensation.
