Improve your posture to alleviate shoulder stiffness and pain
Follow the journey of Hendrickson MethodⓇ on a client with shoulder pain
Using a cold therapy ice pack after Hendrickson Method treatment on Client’s shoulder
Tips to correct your slouched posture and reverse pain and stiffness in the shoulder joint
Notice if you feel tired, sluggish, or are yawning - you are most probably slouching! When our shoulders round and we slouch, the lungs have a much harder job to get sufficient oxygen into our bodies. Time for a posture-correct!
Step One: Stand Up
Let your body be a rag doll. Relax the shoulders, swing the arms and find a balanced standing position - feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, hips stacked over feet, shoulders stacked over hips
Step Two: Notice Your Arms
With arms hanging alongside the body, notice how thumbs face forwards. Gently encourage arms to rotate outward, so open palms face forward instead of towards each other
Step Three: Roll Shoulders
Take a deep breath in and draw shoulders towards ears, exhale fully allowing shoulder blades to draw together and arms to lengthen while encouraging them to rotate out, palms forward
Step Four: Let Go
Follow your breath in and out, while seeing if you can maintain arms in the outward position while relaxing shoulders back and down away from ears. Can you relax a little more? Soften your tongue in your mouth, your jaw and neck. Notice where you are holding tension
Step Five: Settle In
Keeping the mouth, neck, jaw and shoulders relaxed, turn forearms and hands back to their regular position, palms facing each other
At first this exercise may seem challenging and foreign, but as your body re-learns how to align to be more efficient, it will want to do it more and more!
The trick to great posture is mindfulness. Think of times when you can do this exercise to open your chest and reset the shoulders - examples could be when you are brushing your teeth, waiting in line at the store, or filling your car with gas. Over time, your body will tell you when you’ve been holding poor posture and you can correct it before it causes you discomfort.
Practice makes perfect!