The condition in which the shoulder is stiff, painful, and has reduced mobility in all directions is frozen shoulder (also referred to as adhesive capsulitis). Usually, frozen shoulder exercises are the foundation of frozen shoulder therapy.
Always warm your shoulder before conducting exercises on your cold shoulder. Taking a warm shower or bath for 10 to 15 minutes is the perfect way to do that. You may also use a microwave-heated moist heating pad or a damp towel, but it may not be effective.
Stretch to the point of tension but not pain when performing the following frozen shoulder exercises.
Pendulum stretch
First, do this exercise. Get your shoulders relaxed. Stand and slightly lean down, allowing the arm affected to hang down. In a small circle, swing the arm, about a foot in diameter. Perform ten revolutions, once per day, in each direction. Boost the diameter of your swing as your symptoms improve, but never push it. Increase the stretch when you're ready for more by carrying a lightweight in the swinging arm (three to five pounds).
Cross-body reach
Whether seated or standing. Using your good arm to raise your affected arm to your elbow and pull it up and over your body, placing gentle pressure on your shoulder to stretch. For 15 to 20 seconds, keep the stretch. Do this ten to twenty times a day.
Finger walk
Face wall three-quarters the length of an arm forward. Reach out and contact the wall with the fingertips of the affected arm at waist level. Walk your fingers up the wall slowly with your elbow slightly bent, spider-like, until you have lifted your arm as high as you can comfortably. Your fingertips, not your shoulder muscles, should be doing the job. Lower the arm slowly (with the help of the good arm, if necessary) and repeat. Perform 10 to 20 times a day for this workout.
Beginning to strengthen
Add rotator cuff-strengthening exercises as the range of motion increases. Before you do strengthening exercises, make sure to warm up your shoulder and do your stretching exercises.
Outward rotation
With your elbows at a 90-degree angle close to your sides, keep a rubber exercise band between your palms. Rotate two to three inches outward from the lower part of the impacted arm and hold for five seconds. Repeat the process 10 to 15 times, once a day.
Inward rotation
Stand next to a closed door and loop one end of the doorknob around a rubber exercise band. In the hand of the affected arm, grip the other end, keeping the elbow at a 90-degree angle. Pull the band two to three inches towards your body and hold it for five seconds. Repeat the process 10 to 15 times, once a day.
Stretching exercises to strengthen your balance, avoid falls, increase your endurance, and even help alleviate arthritis, back, and knee pain. If all fails, though, visit the best chiropractor in Singapore for guaranteed results.
