The funny thing about shoulder pain is that its very cause — movement — is also the remedy.
After all, repetitive movements, bad posture and some exercises are leading contributors to tears, tendonitis and generally cranky shoulders, says Lee Rosenzweig, a physical therapist with the Joint Mobility Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. But performing the right shoulder exercises is also critical to relieving muscle imbalances, strengthening the supporting muscles of the shoulder and eliminating shoulder pain for good.
[See: The 10 Best Exercises You Can Do for the Rest of Your Life.]
So how do you strengthen the shoulder without agitating it? Make some minor adjustments to traditional shoulder exercises. “The human body is a physics lesson in levers, fulcrums, torque, force, vectors and other fun things you may remember — or tried to forget — from high school,” says Ethan Benda, a certified personal trainer and strength coach based in Kansas City, Missouri. “So there are literally hundreds of different ways to get your shoulders stronger by just varying the angles and force you use. In many cases, changing things up just a little can result in stronger and pain-free shoulders.”
Keep in mind, the perfect way to perform any given shoulder exercise is highly individual. What works best for one pair of irksome muscles might not be the best for someone else’s muscles. And an exercise that’s pain-free for your left shoulder might not have the same effect for your right side. That’s where some experimentation comes in, explains Nick Tumminello, a certified personal trainer based in Rhode Island. If something doesn’t feel good, keep making micro-adjustments until you’ve found what’s best for your unique body, he says.
To that end, experts share simple ways to adjust four popular shoulder exercises for better, pain-free shoulders.
Chest Presses
Avoid barbells and machines. “Most people don’t move symmetrically, so locking yourself into a fixed position on a bar or machine can force one of your shoulders into places it doesn’t want to go,” Benda says. For that reason, Benda recommends using equipment that allows each shoulder to move independently of the other, such as a dumbbell bench press or a seated or standing chest press with a cable or resistance band.
Cut the movement short. Lowering your hands all of the way to your chest hyperextends the shoulder, putting increased stress on the front of the shoulder, Rosenzweig explains. So, if you experience pain on the front of the shoulder, try stopping the movement 3 to 4 inches above the chest.
Lower your elbows diagonally from your body. Letting your elbows flare straight out to your sides can bunch up the shoulders and increase the risk for shoulder impingement (pinching of the muscles). Instead, focus on lowering the dumbbells, cables or whatever weights you are using so that your elbows point diagonally away from your body and end in line with your waist, says Justin Kompf, a certified strength and conditioning specialist at Clientel3 fitness studio in Boston. And remember, to position your body this way, you’ll have to turn your hands so the palms are angled slightly toward each other.
Use a neutral grip. If the diagonal approach isn’t working, a neutral grip with your palms facing one another might be what you need, Kompf says. During the movement, maintain this hand positioning, keeping your elbows tucked right in against your sides as you lower the weights, he says.
Shoulder Presses
Let each arm move freely. Just like with bench presses, it’s important not to force your arms into movement paths that aren’t right for your body’s unique joint structure, such as with a shoulder-press machine, Smith machine or freeweight barbell, Benda says. After all, every person’s shoulder joints have slightly different architecture and range of motion, which these fixed-path pieces of equipment don’t account for. Instead, try using dumbbells, kettlebells, cables or resistance bands.
Stop at chin height. Lowering the weights farther can cause shoulder issues for some, and for most everyone, taking the hands to about chin level is far enough to reap all of the movement’s benefits, Benda says.
Move one arm at a time. It’s easier to focus on what your left arm is doing when your right one isn’t moving, too, Benda says, who recommends trying single-arm shoulder presses. “This will allow for minor corrections on your movement patterns from one side to the other,” he says. After all, the routine that works for the left side might not work on the right side.
Add an angle. “A lot of people who have problems with vertical pushing like a shoulder press don’t have a problem with horizontal pushing like a bench press,” Tumminello says. If you feel any pain in the front of your shoulder or hear any clicking when performing shoulder presses, try adjusting the angle of the back of the bench so you perform your presses on a slight (or big) incline. The angle could vary anywhere from 45- to 80-plus degrees.
[See: 6 Exercises Women Should Do Every Day.]
Pushups
Add a mini band. “There is a cool variation with a mini band that works well and takes some pressure of the front of the shoulder,” Benda says. “Place a mini band around your wrists and walk your hands out to your pushup position. As you do the pushups, the tension redirects some of the force to the middle and posterior deltoids [the back shoulder muscles], helping to relieve stress on the anterior or front of the shoulder.”
Focus on the top. Benda also recommends a variation called an “over-press,” in which you concentrate on the top part of the pushup and, when you reach the top of the exercise, keep pressing to round your upper back, similar to a cat pose in yoga. “You only need to go as low as you feel comfortable on these [exercises], so it is good for beginners or people that feel a lot of stress in their shoulders at the bottom part of a pushup,” he says.
Keep your shoulders away from your ears. Like with bench presses, it pays to not let your shoulders scrunch up and elbows flare straight out from your shoulders while performing pushups, Kompf says. Allow your elbows to extend diagonally behind you, rather than to your sides. Focus on keeping your shoulder blades pulled back and away from your ears throughout the entire movement, he says.
Narrow your hand positioning. One of the most common reasons for shoulder pain with pushups is positioning the hands too far apart from each other, Rosenzweig says. If you experience pain at the front or top of your shoulder during the movement, try placing your hands closer together so that they are directly in line with your shoulders.
Lateral Shoulder Raises
Use cables rather than dumbbells. “When your arm is parallel to the ground when using dumbbells, the force on the joint is at its greatest,” Benda says. “This is also the most compromised position for the shoulder joint.” An easy fix is to perform lateral shoulder raises with the cable machine, he says. Attach the handle to the lowest setting and then play around with standing different distances from the attachment point to find the positioning where you are able to move the weight slowly, under control and without pain. Since the cable machine will put the greatest amount of stress on the shoulder when your arm and the cable are perpendicular, the cable machine allows you to apply the greatest amount of stress to your shoulder when it’s in less risky positions.
Use less weight. A lot of people choose weights that they can move just fine at the bottom of the movement, but that feel too heavy — and they can’t quite control — at the top, Tumminello says. That sets you up for overloading the joint or using poor form, and the potential injury that comes with it. Reducing the amount of weight you use to match it with your strength at the top, rather than the bottom, of the movement can help.
Switch to scaption raises. When performing regular shoulder raises with your palms facing the floor, the upper arm bone (called the humerus) sits in the shoulder socket in a way that can allow the muscles to easily pinch, Rosenzweig says. However, by simply rotating your arms so that you’re in a neutral “handshake position,” leading with the thumb, the humerus meets the socket in a position that isn’t as prone to pinching. Called scaptions, this variation of a shoulder raise is ideal for everyone, regardless of existing shoulder issues.
[See: 8 Lesser-Known Ways to Ruin Your Joints.]
Perform scaptions with cables using less weight. If one switch isn’t enough, combine them. You can easily perform scaptions with a cable machine just like you would any other shoulder raise, Rosenzweig says. Select a weight that enables you to move through the entire range of motion without momentum.
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Got Shoulder Pain? 16 Shoulder-Friendly Exercise Modifications originally appeared on usnews.com
