7 Effective Exercises For Frozen Shoulder At Home

Tired of your frozen shoulder and want to move it in a normal way? Have a look at the easiest yet effective exercises for frozen shoulders at home that will relieve pain and strengthen your shoulder muscles. 

But before jumping on the exercises, let’s have a look at what a frozen shoulder is and how it is caused. 

Frozen Shoulder – An Overview 

Frozen shoulder, also termed Adhesive capsulitis, makes joints painful and stiff with a limited range of motion in all directions. 

Shoulder stretches are the critical step in treating frozen shoulder pain. The frozen shoulder occurs due to a diabetic condition, weak immune system, hormonal imbalance, or others which results in prolonged joint inflammation. 

There are several easy frozen shoulder exercises for quick relief that you can do in the office. These stretches alleviate the shoulder pain and make you feel completely relaxed.  Before you perform the shoulder stretches, try taking a warm shower or place a heating pad over the affected area.

Shoulder pain or frozen shoulder affects the crucial shoulder muscles of our body, including the subclavian, trapezius, and deltoid muscles. The shoulder muscles get affected either due to sitting idle at the desk for hours, during screen time, i.e. around 8-10 hours at the workplace or home settings, playing sports like tennis, baseball, cricket, or others. Sitting idle for hours or keeping the muscle in a stationary posture repetitively can have a disastrous effect on musculoskeletal health, so it’s better to keep moving.

Now let’s have a look at the easy frozen shoulder exercises you can perform at home. 

1.   SHOULDER ROLLS:

Keep the back straight with your chin tucked in. Roll the shoulders in forward, backward, upward, or downward direction within the circular motion. Repeat the shoulder rolls ten times and then reverse the steps.

2.   DESK ANGLES:

Sit straight in your chair with arms placed at shoulder level and elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Keep the head and torso in a stationary position while slowly moving the arms overhead. Reach the hands towards the ceiling and keep the arms side by side to the ears while slowly moving the hands back to the initial position. You might feel a pull in the mid-back, which helps in relaxing the spine. Repeat the posture 10-12 times.

3.   PENDULUM STRETCH:

Perform this exercise when you are free or on break. Relax the shoulders. Stand and lean over slightly while hanging the affected arm. Swing the affected limb in a circle around the foot. Perform it ten times in each direction.

4.   TOWEL STRETCH:

Hold the towel end behind the back and hold the opposite side of the towel with the other hand in a horizontal position.  Try pulling the towel from the affected arm upwards to have a stretch in the affected shoulder. Try doing this 10-20 times each day.

5.   CROSS-BODY REACH:

You can perform this stretch while sitting or standing. Use the non-affected arm to hold the affected arm over the elbow. Now bring it over the top and across the body while applying gentle pressure during the stretch over the shoulder. Keep doing this for 10-20 seconds and that too for 10-20 times each day.

6.   ARMPIT STRETCH:

Perform this stretch in an isolated place. Sit with your back upright. Rotate the head sideways like you are smelling the armpit. Now hold the back of your head with your hand and push the head closer to the armpit. Hold the position for 10 seconds and repeat on another side. Do it twice on both sides.

7.   UPPER TRAPEZIUS STRETCH:

Sit with the back straight and tilt the head sideways towards the shoulder. If you want a more extensive stretch, drop the shoulder blade to the opposite side over the floor. Now hold the posture for 10 seconds and repeat it twice on both sides.

Other than these stretches try being active when sitting at the same place. You can walk after every hour at least, swivel on your seat for a while or move side to side while sitting at the same place.

Frozen Shoulder Exercises To AVOID 

Not all movements and exercises help in frozen shoulders. A few movements can make it worse. Let’s have a look at these movements so that you avoid them and recover quickly. 

Avoid movements that cause pain 

A frozen shoulder becomes stiff if you don’t move it. But the pain worsens if you try to move the shoulder quickly. Avoid pulling and jarring movements that can add stress to the shoulder joints. 

Also, try to follow the exercise routine recommended by your physical therapist. Experimenting with your frozen shoulder by moving it too much can make it really difficult to recover. 

Conclusion

Frozen shoulder is a condition that makes your shoulder joints stiff and painful. But here’s good news: 

You can get rid of pain, strengthen your joints, and make movement easy through the above-mentioned exercises. Follow these exercises for frozen shoulders at home with a healthy routine to make sure to get the maximum benefit from them. 

But if your pain and swelling are not going away, then consult a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment.

BioFlex Pakistan offers a quick and painless way to treat frozen shoulders for good. Through laser therapy, BioFlex conducts quick and painless treatment sessions that cause no harm, incisions or scars, and do not require the use of any medication.

Click here to see what our clients have to say about getting frozen shoulder treatment at BioFlex Pakistan.