Posterior Shoulder and Scapular Stretch

This is an excellent stretch for ensuring healthy tone of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that surround the posterior region of your shoulder and your shoulder blade.

Start on your hands and knees. When stretching the back of your right shoulder region, tuck your right shoulder under your body and lay it on the ground at chest level, then lower your upper body to approach your right arm on the ground. In this position, place your left arm on the ground up above your head, and hold this position while maintaining steady breathing until you feel comfortable with this stretch. Then, if you feel the freedom to do so, bring your right knee up along your right side so that it lies beside you with your hip at 90 degrees and your knee at 90 degrees - bringing your leg up to this resting position will encourage the left side of your pelvis and your left shoulder to get closer to the ground, which will accentuate the stretch in your right posterior shoulder region. Hold this position for as long as is comfortable, up to 60 seconds.

Repeat on the opposite side.

If you find that you can't fully get into this position, just lower yourself as far as is comfortable, and gently rock your upper body toward the ground to whatever degree you can without hurting yourself. Aim for gradual improvement with mobility.

For an overview of exercise progressions that you can work at to improve your mobility and balance in a systematic way, please feel free to visit our Mobility Exercise Progressions page here:

Mobility Exercise Progressions

For some suggestions on how to set up a simple workout area at home, please feel free to view:

Suggested Resources for a Home Gym