Shoulder Crisis.

After about 28 it’s almost certain most of us will begin to develop some sort of issue in either the shoulder or knee areas. And if it’s both, good luck. These issues can range from pain to some minor discomfort. Whatever the case, we’re talkin’ all things shoulder health today.

From my time working with various clients and my personal training ventures, I’ve accumulated a few exercises that seem to do the trick if done consistently for a good period of time. Unfortunately that period of time varies from person to person, and injury to injury. So my advice is once you begin the routine, don’t stop for a while… cause it can take a while. However, most of the time, doing the movements can have an acute effect on how they feel.

If you kept reading for an anatomy lesson, I’m sorry to disappoint. Though, I want to point out that your shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint. Meaning it can and is expected to move all around the place. Pretty sweet design if you ask me.

Anyway, I’m going to list exercises, and if you have shoulder issues that you’d like to resolve, you should start a daily routine. And before we get started, this isn’t a 100% cure-all… but as I alluded to earlier, they do seem to do the trick a good amount of the time.
Let’s get started (you will need a resistance band or something of the sort):

Perform in any order and sets/reps you’d like. You can also choose to do a few of them to begin with. I’d personally shoot for doing at least four of them, at least a couple times daily… at minimum once.

Band Pull-Apart- 2×8
Hold the band in front of you, arms straight, palms down, shoulder-width-ish grip. Pull it apart by squeezing your shoulder blades together. Control it back. Arms stay straight the whole time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZwnwWMkEL4

Band Pass Through- 2×6
Wide grip on the band, arms straight out in front. Raise it up and as high as you can over your head, letting it lower behind you (try and maintain control and tension), then bring it back around to the front. If your shoulders are pissed off about it, widen your grip and/or don’t go as low behind you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDkikKWkgKU

Banded External & Internal Rotation- 2×8-10 (each angle)
Attach the band to a pole or machine at around elbow height. Elbow should be glued to your side, and forearm parallel to the floor. Rotate your forearm away from your body for external, across your body for internal. Make sure the resistance is fighting the direction you’re pulling. Think leading with your wrist/forearm, not your hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACoXOvqGoms

Wall Slides- 2×8-10
Back and glutes (butt) should be against a wall with your arms up in a goalpost position. Your arms and back of hands should be touching the wall. Slide your arms up overhead while keeping wall contact, and then slide them back down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjMASYeaDXA

Banded Around the Worlds- 2×6
Band in both hands, arms straight out front. Draw a big circle with your arms: up, back, around, down. Almost like doing the Band Pass Through, you just have one high and one low hand while rotating. Make sure you’re keeping tension on the band the entire time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmawFL5vgSw

Dead Hangs- 2×10-30sec
Find a pull-up bar, let your whole body hang, feet off the floor. Relax your shoulders and back into it; don't shrug up toward your ears. Just hang.
Alternatives: feet barely touching the ground, feet on the ground and sitting in it, using a lat pull-down cable to “hang.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bx_Ap7-EwU

Quick note:
Do not force any movement. If your body or pain is telling you to stop, don’t push through it and make it worse. That’s what the repetitions and consistency is for. It will naturally become more mobile without pain.

Hope this helps! Try them out for a couple weeks to a month, and let me know how it goes for ya.

Take the steps to getting yourself better. It’s in the consistency. Doing it for two days and giving up won’t be enough. Actually put in the work and time to fix your pain.