If you work all day in front of a computer, you may end up with pain in your shoulders from hunching, tensed, in front of the monitor. Carrying a heavy load, injurying yourself playing sports and even sleeping wrong could leave you with pain in the shoulders. Exercise can help stretch tight muscles and relieve pain. Heat, ice packs and anti-inflammatories could also help ease your shoulder pain. See your doctor if pain worsens and doesn't resolve after a few days.
Stiffness
Pain can leave you stiff and unable to move your arm through its normal range of motion due to pain in your shoulder. Gentle stretches and a gradual increase in your range of motion can unlock the stiffness and return you to normal movement. Enlist the arm on the side that doesn't hurt to help you with some stretches.
Lateral Moves
Reach the arm on the side of your body that hurts toward the opposite side of your body, across your chest. Pull gently on this arm with your other arm to exert a gentle stretch. Reach the same arm behind your back and use the nonpainful arm to tug gently to achieve a gentle stretch. Clasp your hands behind your back. Slowly raise your clasped hands toward the ceiling until you feel a gentle tug. Hold, then release. These exercises help open up the shoulder and back and can ease tension.
Vertical Moves
Extend your arm up over your head, reaching toward the ceiling. If this is too painful, stand against the wall. Walk the fingers of the arm on the painful side up the wall as far as you can comfortably reach. Hold for a count of five, then walk the fingers back down. Bend over at the waist and let the arm on the painful side hang down. Gently move the arm so that it sways back and forth as it hangs loose in the socket. You should feel a gentle stretch in your shoulder.
Exercises With Weights
You can use hand weights or exercise bands to exert pressure and provide resistance for shoulder exercises. Stand on the middle of an exercise band and grasp an end in each hand, or hold dumbbells in each hand. Shrug your shoulders up toward your ears. Hold, then release. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and rest the weights on your shoulders. Lift the weights up toward the ceiling, then slowly lower them. Bend at the waist and allow the arm to hang, but hold a weight in your hand. Let the arm swing gently back and forth.
