Shoulder and neck pain can happen when you have to do overhead movements for long periods like my friend Chazz does while styling her beautiful hair on her YouTube channel Chazzzisawesome. So Chazz stopped by to get some stretches and exercises for her arm, shoulder, and neck pain.
These stretches and exercises should help out with your arm, shoulder, and neck pain, too. Make sure to check out Chazz’s awesome tutorials, and special appearances from her teddy bear, Bear. He is much more mischievous than my Bear.
The first stretches are called pendulums. Use a small weight in your hand to help open up the shoulder joint. Use a chair or counter top for balance, and lean over so your arm hangs down towards the ground. Move your body, not your arm in circles so your arm swings around like a pendulum. You can also rock front to back and side to side. If you haven’t had a surgery or injury with precautions, you can actively move your arm some for a bigger movement. Start off with 10 of each and work your way up to a minute of each.
The next stretch is a chest/pec stretch. Clasp your hands behind you, and push your hands downward and push your chest out. Do these 3 times for 30 seconds.
Next is shoulder or scapular squeezes. You can use your elbows to help squeeze your shoulder blades back behind you. Imagine that someone has their hand on the middle of your spine, and you are trying to squeeze their hand with your shoulder blades. Do about 5-10 of those.
Sitting down with your legs out in front of you, bring both arms straight out in front of you. Clasp your hands together, and punch forward. Tuck in your chin and arch your back as well. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times.
Now for a trapezius stretch, place your hand under your thigh to keep your shoulder down, then side bend your head to the opposite side and gently put pressure with your other hand to get a stretch through your trapezius muscles. Hold these for 30 seconds and perform 3 times on each side.
Then you will stretch your levator scapulae muscle. This is the muscle that is used when you shrug your shoulders, and they can get overworked when you are stressed out. Take your arm on the side of the pain and place it above and behind your shoulder. Then take your opposite arm and place on top and slightly behind your head. Look down towards the opposite knee of the pain and apply gentle pressure for a good stretch. Hold these for 30 seconds and perform 3 times on each side.
Still with your hand on your shoulder and your elbow upward towards the ceiling. Push your elbow back behind you to stretch your tricep muscles. Hold these for 30 seconds and perform 3 times on each side.
Roll over onto all fours or in quadruped. The cat/cow or cat/dog stretch is performed by tucking your chin in and arching your back. Then drop your back down and lift your head looking forward. You can hold this for 10-15 seconds and alternate back and forth for about a minute.
While you are still in quadruped, come down on to the elbow of the opposite side you want to stretch. Put the arm of the side you want to stretch behind your head, an the rotate upward brining your towards the ceiling. Hold for 3-5 seconds, and do ten of these.
Finally, roll back onto your back for “snow angels.” Put your arms flat on the ground into a slight stop sign position or like you are getting ready to make a snow angel. You can bend your knees and get into a pelvic tilt. Now slowly slide your arms upwards, and try to keep your elbow and arms flat on the ground. Once they start coming up, then slide them back down. You only need to do about 10 of these with 2 sets.
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