Top 5 Yoga Exercises For Tight Or Achey Shoulders
Got uncomfortable, tight or painful shoulders?
You're not alone, in fact the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence suggest that 67% will have instances of shoulder pain in our lifetime.
Why do you get shoulder issues?
You use your shoulders A LOT during the day, and this means that it's one of the most common body areas that gets injured (particularly with repetitive movement).
When your muscles or tight and/or weak this often causes 'bad posture' like hunching or slouching, which is another reason why so many of us get aches, pains and injuries.
The most common shoulder issues
Shoulder problems occur for a variety of reasons, but most fall into one of these 3 categories:
Injury - these vary but common ones include rotator cuff tearing, supraspinatus impingement or bursitus
Stress & anxiety - there's a reason why we use the phrase 'carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders'... when we are in 'fight or flight' mode aka stressed, our neck and shoulders are tense. Being in this state for long periods of time can lead to shoulder aches and pains
Poor posture / desk jobs - we spend so much of our lives hunched over our computers and smartphones. Although you might think slouching is 'relaxed' it's actually putting a lot of pressure on your shoulder muscles
How yoga can help relieve shoulder aches and pains
The good news is it's relatively easy to target your specific shoulder muscles with different exercises to focus on areas of tightness and weakness.
I used to think that muscles were tight because they were strong, but this is not often the case. In fact most of us will find our muscles are both tight and weak! That's why it's important to work both muscle strength and flexibility with complimentary exercises to positively impact your posture.
Through building muscle strength and length you will help to increase your shoulder mobility. This can not only help you work on recovering from injury, relief aches and pains from tense muscles and improve your posture. Doing these exercises can actually help prevent future shoulder injuries... it's like helping your future self!
My Top 5 Easy Yoga Exercises To Relieve Shoulder Aches & Pains
If you suffer from uncomfortable shoulders - whether that’s tightness, aches or pains… I’ve put together my top 5 simple yoga exercises you can do to solve your shoulder issues.
These shoulder exercises are designed to be done daily and will take you less than 5 minutes to complete. I recommend 5-10 reps of each. You can also watch my Top 5 Shoulder Exercises video to get further guidance.
1. Cactus Arm Rotations
Think "thriller arms” with your elbows shoulder height with a bend and palms facing forwards. Bring your hands down as far as they will go until you are pushing backwards, and then bring them back up again.
2. "Deckchair" side stretch
Start by bringing your feet from a kneeling position to the right hand side, placing your right hand by your feet. Bring your hand behind your head and point your left elbow to the sky, facing your head in the same direction. You should feel a deep stretch here with a couple of breaths! Repeat this on the other side.
3. Cactus Arm Pullbacks
For the third exercise, lie on your front with your forehead on the ground and your arms out at a right angle (the same shape as exercise one). Begin slowly raising the arms up from the elbows until you feel slight tension and then slowly release them back down.
4. Chaturanga Half Push-Up
Start in all fours and bring your knees back slightly to find a supported plank position, with wrists underneath shoulders. Keeping your elbows right next to the side of your ribs, lower yourself down slowly (like a half-push up) and then push yourself back up.
5. Childs Pose Side Stretch
Start in childs pose. Bring your hands onto your fingertips and feel the powerful stretch as you walk your hands slowly from your left side to your right with a pause at each side.
Watch The Video
You can get extra tips and practice all 5 exercises alongside me with this short YouTube video of my top 5 shoulder exercises:
Conclusion
I’ve designed these exercises to target your key shoulder muscles and give you an easy way to work on your shoulder mobility. They are designed to help you stretch and strengthen your shoulder muscles. Fitting these exercises into your daily routine can help you relieve shoulder aches and pains, improve your range of motion to support daily movement, prevent shoulder injuries and improve your overall posture!
I’d love to know which of these exercises you felt it in your shoulders the most. Let me know in the comments below 👇
