Frozen Shoulder Relief Stretches & Exercises - Adhesive Capsulitis

Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo and sleepy queen Khaleesi. And today I'm going to show you stretches and exercises for a frozen shoulder. So let's get started. So with frozen shoulder, our 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 slash 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 should, I 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 those same movements, but you have that little weight just to kind of help open it up. And this, this feels really, really good to get that moving. Then you can also do a side to side movement. So 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, it's 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 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 that 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 is 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 too, 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 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 know, you might 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 and 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 whole maybe a three to five second hold, and then kind of relax. And you can do that a couple 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 packed 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 will 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, you 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 going to go into using either the PVC pipe or a broomstick. Or if you happen to have 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 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 going to go into shorter abduction with this. So I'm just placing here, and I'm using the stick to bring my arm up. So this one's 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's going to want to happen. Try and relax it as much as you can. So the 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, see 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. It's 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 you know your arm's not going to be able to come all the way up like that. You're you know you're going to 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 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 it's fine. So I'm doing this motion with the stick, and again this one's just coming along for the ride. You'll 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. So there you have it. Those are stretches and exercises for frozen shoulder. It wore the queen out. If you'd like to help support my channel, click on the link up there. And don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. And remember, yeah down there, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.