Ow! Ow! Ow!

[DianaB]

Originally Posted by gja1000

Yes, I'd love for you to describe your stretches. Right now, I've started with the pectoralis stretch - holding on to a door jam and leaning forward (or stepping forward) till I have a stretch on the pectoral muscles in the front of my shoulder. My problem in hunching my shoulders forward so the pec muscles in the front of my shoulder have shortened and are pulling the rotator cuff in an odd way so that it is being impinged at the socket.

That pretty much sounds like the exercise that I did except I did it against a wall.

I also had to take a broom stick and put it behind my back with one hand holding the stick near my lower back and the other holding the stick near my neck. Then I would pull the stick up, pulling the lower hand as far up as it would go, stretching the muscles in my shoulders. I did 3 sets of 10 reps. Then you reverse hands. I was suppose to do this several times a day with only 10 reps each time. Make sure that your shoulders aren't hunched up but relaxed.

I also did a push up from the wall. Get about 15" from a wall, legs and feet together. Place hands on wall at shoulder height and do 3 sets of 10 reps of push ups, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Make sure that your arms are relaxed and not hunched up when you do this. Nothing should hurt on these stretches.

The most important part is to remember NOT to hunch your shoulders because that's what you're trying to correct. It's hard but you'll get it. Sometimes you have to make a concious effort to relax your shoulders and in the next minute you'll have to do it again.

I don't know how bad my problem was and it's been years and years ago since I had it. I do remember that once I started the stretching exercises I could tell a BIG difference in how I felt. I hope that you find some relief in the exercises.