In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix winged
shoulder blades using no equipment. Stay tuned.
Hey everyone, Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
the three main culprits of winged shoulder blades, or
scapula, which are tight pec minor muscles, tight levator
scapulae, and a weak serratus anterior. Make sure to go
through all three parts if you're looking to get the best
results. As a bonus, all these exercises can be done at home,
don't require any special equipment and may give quick
results even, in as little as thirty seconds! So let's get
started and fix those winged shoulder blades right now. In
the first part, we're going to focus on an overactive, tight
pectoralis minor muscle, right here at the top part of the
chest. One of the easiest ways to be able to isolate and
stretch that muscle out is with an exercise known as Y stretch
and we just need a door frame for this. So, I do hope you
have that. Let's start by going right up to a door frame,
putting our feet together. Arms are going to go straight at the
elbow. We're going to reach towards the ends of the door
frame. So, our hands and arms are forming Y shape. From
there, I'm going to do a chin or head retraction, that is
bringing the head back just like this very slightly, to put
it into better posture. From there, I'm just going to lean
into the door frame with my body weight. The more that I
lean into it, the more that you're going to feel that pec
minor get a very good stretch. You should really feel it right
up here. So, focus on that. Lean forward as much as you're
able to. Once you hit a very comfortable stretch, let's hold
this for twenty to thirty seconds. From there, just come
back a little bit, relax, and then you're going to repeat
this up to times. With each repetition, drive forward even
more because it's only going to help stretch that pec minor
muscle out even further. You can also do this on one side if
you would like a little bit of a deeper stretch. So, start off
with one arm up like this and then, you're just going to lean
forward even more. Really focus again on stretching that pec
minor muscle at the top part of the chest. Twenty to thirty second
holds, relax, repeat for five times, and whatever you do on
one side, always switch to the other to keep them both
in balance. So, a big cause of winged shoulder blades is
because of a tight levator scapulae. When that gets tight,
it tends to draw us forward in the upper back across the
shoulder blades giving that winged appearance. Here's a
very easy exercise that you can do pretty much anywhere. You
can do it standing or seated. What I'm going to do is start
off by just bending one side's elbow just like this. Let's
take the other side's hand, place it right underneath the
arm, lift that elbow up towards the ceiling as much as you can.
Take the hand on bent elbow side and really reach down in
between the upper back right in between the shoulder blades as
much as you can. Once we hit that point, what we're going to
do is turn our head in the other side's direction. So, if
my right side is up, I'm going to look all the way over
towards my left shoulder as much as I can. Already, you
should feel a very good deep stretch into the neck. Really
focus on that. The next part, let's look down towards that
side's armpit. So, the left armpit right here. This will
really intensify that stretch so what we want to do is really
try to go down as much as we can once we hit that
comfortable stretch let's hold this for twenty to 30 seconds.
If you need to make this a little bit stronger what you
can do is take your hand place it on the back side of the head
and then just pull down towards that armpit even more, that will
intensify the stretch but again only to your comfort level.
You want to do that for twenty to thirty second holds, relax, repeat up
to five times and each time you do it always try to stretch into it
just a little bit more to challenge that muscle to
hopefully to get it to release just a little bit more and when
you're done on one side always switch to the other to keep
them both in balance. In this part, we're going to focus on
the big instigator of winged shoulder blades which is a
weakened serratus anterior. The serratus anterior lies right
off to the side of the thorax, right across the ribs, right
underneath the pec and chest muscles. So, during these
exercises, make sure to really focus on activating it right
through here. This is a three-part exercise that's very
easy and very effective at isolating the serratus anterior
and, hopefully, help you strengthen it. The first one,
what I'm going to use is an everyday hand-drying towel. You
can use something like a paper plate or t-shirt also. Let's
go right next to a door or a wall and place that towel right
in front of it. I'm going to take one hand, place it just
like this, palm side towards the door and press into it to
activate those muscles. We want to get pretty close to the
door. The key is to press into this as much as we can. When
you do this, you should already start to feel it activated, off
to the side. This is how we're going to really isolate that
serratus anterior. I'm going to then slowly start to raise the
towel up by straightening my arm out. We don't want to bend
the body up to lift it up. We want to focus on only shoulder
into the elbow straightening that arm. Go very, very slowly
and go up as far as you're able to go. From here, let's hold it
for a second and again, you should really definitely feel
it into that serratus anterior by doing this. We're going to
then slowly come back down. It should take you a couple
seconds to go all the way up, a couple seconds to come all the way
down. Do this for ten to fifteen complete repetitions.
With each repetition, press into it even more and try to
lift this up even further. When you're done on one side, always
switch to the other to keep them both in balance. In the
second part, I'm going to face the door or the wall. So, I'm
going to press my body from my hips all the way to my head,
flush against that door. You can angle your legs out
straight. Feet together and press back into it for a stable
anchor point. Let's take arms and just place them off to the
side just like this straight at the elbow. I'm going to make a
fist with my hands and then I'm going to do a hitchhiker sign
like this but our thumbs are going to be pointing away from
us. The movement from here is very easy. What I'm going to do
is lift my arms up straight to the point where the thumbs are
going to then come back towards the wall or the door. When you
do this, again, you should really start to feel it right
there in that serratus anterior. Try to focus on that
but if you don't have the flexibility to be able to touch
your thumbs towards the wall, that is completely
normal. With each repetition, just focus on trying to stretch
into it even more but you want to do this one nice and slowly
for about ten to fifteen complete repetitions, and the
third part, we're going to do what is known as a wall or door
angel. The movement, again, very easy. Let's start off in
the same position with our body weight completely flash against
the door and from there, I'm going to make a field goal with
my hands just like this. So, my elbows are bent at ninety
degrees. Let's take the elbows the door as much as we can.
Really challenge yourself on this. It should feel like the
shoulder blades are activating and they're starting to pinch
together. The chest will also start to open up. Once we hit
that position, we're going to slowly start to raise our
elbows and hands up towards the ceiling to the point where our
hands are going to overlap and clap. Let's hold this for a
couple of seconds and then slowly come back down. On the
next repetition, try to drive those elbows back even further
to activate those muscles and then do this one nice and low
for ten to fifteen complete repetitions. From there, relax,
take a breather, and then do that complete cycle, that
complete combination for three to five times. Really again,
focusing on that serratus anterior. Here is a great
two-part exercise that's really going to target that serratus
anterior. The first exercise is known as a serratus anterior
rock back. This is best done on the floor. I'm going to start off
on all four. So, make sure to put a pillow or underneath your
knees for extra comfort. Let's bend the elbows like this to
the point where we can rest comfortably on our forearms.
Our elbows are going to be bent slightly away from us. Hands
are going to just interlock like this. Let's start off by
taking our chin towards our chest as much as we can. From
there, what I'm going to do is press my upper body weight from
my elbows into the floor as much as I can. This will help
isolate that serratus anterior. Let's rock backwards with our
body. So, while we're pressing down into the floor with our
forearms and elbows. What I'm going to do is slowly take my
butt towards my heels. The more that you do this, take the body
weight backwards. The more that you're going to feel it
activate right through here into that serratus anterior.
So, really focus on that. Once we hit a great activation of
that muscle, let's hold this for five seconds. From there,
you're just going to rock back forward, take a breather, and
then repeat this for ten to fifteen complete repetition. On
the second part, we're going to take it to the next level by
doing what is called a dolphin press. So, what I'm going to do
from here is stay in this position where my elbows are
bent like this. But I'm going to go into a plank position by
straightening my legs and then putting my weight onto my toes.
From here, I'm going to tuck the chin towards the chest as
much as I can and then I'm going to rock my body backwards
again but this time what I'm trying to do is lift my butt up
towards the ceiling and really trying to take my head down
towards the floor as much as I can. This will really activate
a lot of muscles but really try to feel it through the serratus
anterior off to the side. Once we have a very good activation
of that muscle, let's hold this for about five seconds. Relax
and then repeat this up to ten to fifteen times. Afterwards,
you can take a breather and then repeat that cycle for
three complete sets. With this exercise, we're going to focus
a little bit more on one-sided issues. So, if you have just a
winged shoulder on one side, definitely give this a try. We
just need a wall or a door. I'm going to assume a plank
position. That is I'm going to space my feet away from that
door, put them together so I can lean into the door just
like this. My body should be at a slight tilt. My elbows are
going to be bent. My upper body weight is going to be placed
from the forearms into the door just like this. Just take your
fingers, interlock the hands. From here, what I want to do is
then focus more on the side that I'm having issues. Let's
say that I have a lot of winging going on on the right
side. I'm going to take that right forearm and I'm going to
press my body weight from the elbow forearm into the door
during this exercise at all times. So, really challenge
yourself to press into it as much as you can with your body
weight. The opposite side, we're going to take off. So,
for focusing on the right, I'm going to take my left arm off
like this and then slowly turn my body towards the left while
I press into the door as much as I can with that right arm.
Go into rotation with this. Try to turn the body as much as you
can. The more that you do, the more it's going to activate
that serratus anterior and the muscles around that shoulder
blade. Focus on that. Once we hit a very good strong
activation of those muscles, let's hold this for five
seconds. From there, you're going to come back, take a
breather, and then you're just going to simply repeat this
one. On the next repetition, again, try to drive your body
weight into the door even more and try to rotate your body
away from it as much as you can. You want to do this for
ten to fifteen complete repetitions. And I always do
recommend that whatever you do on one side, you always do on
the other but it's just a good way to really focus on one side
and hopefully correct that winged shoulder blade. If the
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