Pain does a great job of stealing our attention and sucking the fun out of life.
But… once you address pain and restore your body’s capacity to move better, you can start saying yes to things that you no longer have the capacity to do.
When you turn your back on addressing pain and mobility you also turn your back on living your best life. For you, that might mean golfing every day this summer, hiking every weekend, gardening, or playing with your grandkids.
Mobility matters because it lets us do the things we love most and make our lives feel meaningful.
Good mobility isn’t just about reducing pain and stiffness and increasing range of motion — it’s what increasing your range of motion then allows you to go and do!
Today I want to address shoulder pain and mobility.
This is for you if you’re experiencing pain in the front of your shoulder with movements such as reaching across your body for your seat belt or swinging your golf club, or you’re unable to lift weights in the gym. Maybe shoulder pain is keeping you from having a good night’s sleep.
What I’m talking about is Anterior Shoulder Impingement.
You can get temporary relief from the pain and stiffness by doing pec release exercises or stretches, but it’s only a matter of time (minutes or hours) before the tightness comes back and with it — the pain and discomfort.
This is happening because those bossy pec muscles create a layer of tightness that covers a deeper layer of restriction that isn’t letting go.
So, I’ve made a short video to guide you through two simple and gentle techniques. The important points to remember are:
- Find the recommended position in the video and RELAX into it.
You should not feel a high level of effort while holding this position!
- Breathing is the most important part of this exercise.
Breathing in gently through your nose (gently meaning slow and unforced) quiet enough that someone sitting next to you can’t hear you inhale. Exhale through your mouth with an open-mouth sigh.
Exhaling this way allows more air out with less resistance and without holding tension in the back of your throat.
Important: make sure you allow ALL the air out ie: full exhale (you will know that you have exhaled completely if you feel a little activation in the side of your abdominal wall)
After watching the video and holding these positions for 5 breath cycles x 2 each, recheck the movements that caused pain in the front of the shoulder and see if they feel better.
If there was less pain, repeat this once or twice a day for a week.
My clients have reported amazing results with this approach and I would love to hear what you think. Follow me for more exercises and DM me and tell me about your results, I would love to hear from you!
Yours in health, Maria