Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody is Doctor Jo and sleepy Queen
Khaleesi. And today I'm going to show you stretches and exercises
for frozen shoulder. So let's get started. So with frozen
shoulder or adhesive capsulitis, a lot of times that shoulder
freezes up. That's why they call it frozen shoulder. But it's
really just that the adhesions and the joint capsule have kind
of scarred up and it makes it really tight and irritated. So
what we're going to use today is have a chair or be near a
countertop so you can kind of lean onto it. Also, you'll need
something this is a PVC pipe, but you can use like a
broomstick, or if you have a cane, just something to kind of
assist your arm. And then with the exercise that we're about to
do some pendulums. If you have a soup or vegetable can or "Super"
vegetable can, that's usually about a pound that works great.
Or if you have a little dumbbell, that's about one
pound. Grab that too. So if you want to pause real quick, and go
ahead and grab all that stuff, so you'll have it handy. Go
ahead and do that. So we're going to start off with some
pendulums. You can do again, you can use a countertop or a sturdy
chair. But this is really so you can lean over and have something
to hold on to. Pendulums are really one of my favorite
exercises, kind of an exercise/stretch for any
shoulder thing as long as you're cleared to do it. Because it
really just helps open up that shoulder. So if my left arm is
the one that I have the frozen shoulder, I'm just going to kind
of step back a little bit again, so I can lean over and let that
arm hang straight down. So with the pendulum, we're going to do
a couple different directions, but the first one is going to be
circles. So I am going to try and move my arm with my body. So
I'm not necessarily actively doing it, you can do it that
way. But a lot of times with a frozen shoulder that might be
uncomfortable. So you really want to be as relaxed as you
possibly can. This is more of a passive movement, even though it
won't be completely passive. But I'm just going to use my body to
kind of make that circle. So I'm still moving my arm a little bit
to get that circle. But I'm just letting that arm kind of dangle
and go with my body. So you're you know, I'm starting off here,
I'm doing some counterclockwise, then you can switch it and do
some some clockwise. And so a lot of times with that frozen
shoulder, if this isn't painful, if this actually feels really
good, like it love these for my shoulder. If you want to open up
that shoulder joint a little bit more, then grab the weight, and
then do that same movement. So now that's just giving a little
bit of a pull on that shoulder. Again, it shouldn't really be
painful. With frozen shoulder, it's probably going to be
uncomfortable, but it shouldn't be sharp pain or anything like
that, and still do the same movements, but you have that
little weight, just to kind of help open it up in this, this
feels really, really good to get that moving. Then you can also
do a side to side movement. So it's still hanging right there.
And then just swinging side to side. Same thing, you're trying
to mainly use your body for the motion. But you know your arm,
you're going to actively move your arm a little bit. Again, is
probably going to be uncomfortable with that frozen
shoulder and that's okay, you know, push as much as you can,
if you want to get a little bit bigger swing in there. And then
again, if you want to add in the weight, maybe not the first time
you do it, but then maybe if you try it and it's feeling really
good, you can add that weight in there. And then the other one is
just going to be a front to back movement. So I like to kind of
put my foot back a little bit. And now I'm just kind of rocking
front to back this way. And again, once you're ready,
because he now I'm getting some of that flexion in there, which
is a really hard motion to do with that frozen shoulder. Then
if you want to add that weight, again, you can do that and get
that movement in there where my body's doing a lot of the work
to get that shoulder moving, and that weight kind of helps open
it up, which is really, really nice. So now we're gonna do some
sitting down stuff. So the next set of exercises are going to be
really just kind of getting the muscles moving in the shoulder
area. So it's not big movements with our arm. So these should be
pretty comfortable. And again, with frozen shoulder in general,
most of the exercises aren't terribly comfortable but a
little bit uncomfortable as okay, but it shouldn't be sharp,
painful movements. So this is just going to be a simple
shoulder squeeze or scapular squeeze. So a lot of times with
the frozen shoulder that that capsule in there, that adhesive
capsulitis it's just really tight. And so you want to make
sure that you're getting the scapula or the shoulder blades
moving to because those are all connected. So with a shoulder
squeeze, what you want to do is just imagine that somebody's
hand is right on your spine, and you're just trying to squeeze
their hand with your shoulder blades, but using the muscles.
Those rhomboid muscles in there to help squeeze it back and get
that movement in there. And again with frozen shoulder even
though we're moving to the shoulder blades this this might
be kind of hard to do. So what you want to do is keep your
shoulders down, and with that frozen shoulder You won't have
hiked up just a little bit, try and keep it nice and relaxed.
And you're just going to squeeze back. You can use your elbows as
a target to squeeze back and hold. But try it again, keep
those shoulders down, you know, sometimes people are going to
hike up like this. Try and keep it down and squeeze back. But
again, you're not just using your elbows to bring them back,
you're trying to use those muscles to squeeze those
shoulder blades together back there. If you feel like you're
just kind of moving your elbows, you can place your hands on your
thighs like this, and just squeeze back that way. But
really try and get that hold, maybe a three to five second
hold, and then kind of relax. And you can do that a couple of
times in there. And if you want to follow along with some real
time videos, where I'm doing the whole routine, you can click on
that link up there. So after you do some shoulder squeezes, now
you want to do some shoulder shrugs. And so sometimes it
seems kind of like why am I doing shrugs if my shoulders are
already kind of hiked up a little bit, but you're trying to
get those muscles moving to help loosen everything up. So a lot
of times when people say, you know, oh, my muscles are tight,
I don't want to exercise them. Exercising doesn't make muscles
tight, exercising makes muscles strong, there's a difference
there. So with a shoulder shrug is kind of just like it sounds,
you're shrugging your shoulders up. So now it's not, I'm moving
my ear down to my shoulder, I am trying to bring my shoulders up
into that shrug. But really try and keep everything in a plane.
Because with a frozen shoulder, it might try and go forward and
try and keep those shoulder blades back and then shrug up.
Again, hold for about three to five seconds, and then come back
down. I'll turn a little bit so you can see that. So shrugging
up, hold it and then come back down. So again, might be
uncomfortable, maybe a little bit painful, but it shouldn't be
very sharp, just excruciating kind of pain in there. So now
we're gonna go into using either the PVC pipe or a broomstick. Or
if you haven't had a cane, those work really well. I like having
a little hook like this, like sometimes the canes do or if you
make it with your PVC pipe. But you don't have to have that it's
just sometimes nice to have a nice hand placement there. But
again, if you've got something just like a broomstick, you can
just place your hand on top like that, that that works just as
well. So the idea of using the stick is, so you're getting some
active assisted movement, you call it passive in general, but
it's not going to be fully passive. Any stretch or movement
passively while you're awake is not going to be 100% passive.
But you're just going to place your hand on the the side that
you have the frozen shoulder, either on the edge or just kind
of on the point there. You want your thumb to kind of be in that
upward position. Or if you want to hold it like this so that
that thumb is going out in that position here. But not this way.
For this particular exercise, we're gonna go into shoulder
abduction, with this. So I'm just placing here, and I'm using
the stick to bring my arm up. So this was just kind of going
along for the ride. So this is the motion I'm going to be
doing. But I'm really trying to just kind of relax that arm and
let the stick do all the work. So I'm going to straighten out
my arm as much as I comfortably can, and then just start
bringing it up. Now with a frozen shoulder, what's going to
happen is, this whole shoulder unit is going to work together
and it's going to go like this, that's what we're going to want
to happen. Try and relax it as much as you can. So the height
doesn't make as much of a difference. So, you know, if
you're trying to do this, just to get your arm higher seat, my
arm, actually, that shoulder is still in the same position, even
if I was here. So even if you're only able to go about here and
you start feeling that stretch, that's fine, try and relax that
shoulder as much as possible, because hiking it up just to get
your technically your arm higher, but you're not really
getting that stretch in the shoulder isn't going to help is
actually probably going to be more uncomfortable. So try and
relax as much as possible. Even if you can go only to here, hold
it, maybe just for two to three seconds, and then come back
down. And then hopefully each time you can push a little bit
more, a little bit more a little bit more, and then come back
down. But with a true frozen shoulder, generally, your arms
not going to be able to come all the way up like that. You're
gonna feel it pretty tight, maybe just right there. But if
you can comfortably, you know, get that stretch, hold that
stretch a little bit and then nice and gentle coming back
down. And then the next one is going to be for shoulder flexion
coming up in front of you. And so it's the same idea where the
stick is doing all the movement. So I'm doing all the work on my
good side, and then the other one is just kind of hanging on
for the ride. So again, if you don't have this little hook to
kind of hold with your thumb up, that's okay, you can hold it
this way. But a lot of times with the thumb up position, that
opens up that shoulder and it's usually a little bit more
comfortable. But again, sometimes it's easier to
completely relax your arm like that and
that's fine. So I'm doing this motion with the stick and again,
this one's just coming along for the ride. You will probably
activate a little bit but try and relax as much as you can
even if you're just kind of placing it on the stick like
this. And again, it's kind of the same thing you're gonna
maybe only be able to get to about right here. You might only
be able to get to right here to start off with and that's okay.
But, you know, kind of hiking it up like this just to get your
arm up isn't really helping try and relax that shoulder as much
as possible. Even if you can only come here and start feeling
that stretch. Hold it for a little bit and then come back
down. So there you have it. Those are stretches and
exercises for frozen shoulder. It wore the queen out. If you'd
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remember, yeah, down there, be safe, have fun, and I hope you
feel better soon.