Fast Shoulder Impingement Pain Relief – 4 Easy Exercises

Learn how to get shoulder impingement pain relief in just five minutes with four easy, at home exercises. Plus, see a study on exercise vs. surgery.

Hey, it’s Coach E from Precision Movement. Today, we’re not going to go in-depth into the topic of shoulder impingement as this is an article to get you some quick pain relief.

This is just the beginning of a long-term solution to strong, pain-free, and mobile shoulders.

Now, I will briefly review a couple points so you have a basic understanding of shoulder impingement. Then, I’ll discuss the results of a recent systematic review that discusses shoulder impingement relief and physical therapy versus physical therapy and surgery.

Finally, we’ll get into four exercises that will take you five minutes or less to get you some quick pain relief.

What is Shoulder Impingement?

Shoulder impingement is when the rotator cuff tendon, or the bersa, gets pinches between the acromian (part of the scapula) and the head of the humerus (upper arm bone.)

So, whenever you move your arm, especially when you move it up overhead into shoulder flexion, the soft tissues in this area pinch.

Root causes of Shoulder Impingement

Now, why does this happen?

There are a few key root causes.

Number one is the weakness of deep, scapular stabilizer muscles like the serratus anterior and the lower trapezius. These muscles prevent the scapula from properly rotating whenever you lift your arm.

When the scapula doesn’t properly rotate, it sits forward and in a stuck position, and the tissues get pinched whenever you move your arm.

Number two is poor posture through the thoracic spine and shoulder girdle. If you lack thoracic extension, AKA mobility, in straightening the upper part of your back, then that closes down the space between the acromion and the head of the humerus.

Those are the main root causes of shoulder impingement, whether it’s the bursa or the rotator cuff tendon that’s getting impinged.

The third point is that it’s not just about stretching muscles. It’s not about external and internal rotation with the rubber band. Those exercises will not get you to the root causes and will not give you long-term or even short-term pain relief.

Shoulder Impingement Study Review

The last thing I want to discuss before we get into the exercises is a recent study I found. The study is from 2019 and is titled “The effectiveness of surgical vs conservative interventions on pain and function in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.” It is a systematic review. [1]

 

The authors included 11 randomized controlled trials in the study, and they found that,

“The pooled results displayed no statistically or clinically different between surgery plus physiotherapy vs physiotherapy alone on pain levels at 3-, 6-months, 5-, 10 years follow up.

Similarly, the pooled results were not statistically or clinically different between groups for function at 3-, 6-month, and 1-year follow ups.”

So, the results of the research are pretty clear. It’s all about exercise, not surgery.

Shoulder Impingement Pain Relief Exercises

With all that being said, let’s get to the exercises.

For these exercises, you’ll need a few pieces of equipment:

• Foam roller or yoga block
• Rubber band or sturdy belt
• Massage ball, golf ball, or baseball

Gather this stuff up, and then let’s get started.

If you want to follow along with the video, watch Shoulder Impingement Pain Relief in 5 Minutes on YouTube.

Exercise 1: ASMR Shoulders

The first exercise we’re going to start with is self-myofascial release for the shoulder muscles. Make sure you cover:

• The front
• Around the sides
• In the back
• Around the shoulder blade
• Above the shoulder blade

We’re going to spend 30 seconds in each area. Do not go right over the top of a painful area. Go around that.

1. Place the ball on the wall and then press your body into it
2. Roll the ball around for 30 seconds
3. Switch to a new area of the shoulder
4. Repeat until you’ve covered all of the areas in the list above
5.  and we’re going for 30 seconds. So just rolling around, go right into the pec minor, and if you can, move your arm around just a little bit behind you to open your pecs up a little more. Get a little deeper into those muscles. Really release them.

Avoid going right over the top of a painful area if you have one. It is supposed to feel uncomfortable but not painful. You aren’t doing any damage to your tissues.

You can move the arm around and get a little active self-myofascial release. But don’t worry about that too much. Just getting a little release in the muscles is all we need right now.

Exercise 2: Segmental Thoracic Mobilization

Next up, we are working on your thoracic spine with the Segmental Thoracic Mobilization. For this technique, you need the roller and you’re going to do three different moves, three reps of each move.

Start off at the lower end of your thoracic spine. That’s your upper back. Keep your arms up by the side of your head so that your shoulders don’t get irritated.

1. Extend your spine over the roller, inhaling to get more extension
2. Use your abs to pull yourself up, like a situp
3. Repeat a total of 3 times
4. Side bend, shoulder toward same side hip, 3 times
5. Twist your torso above the roller 3 times
6. Move the roller up your spine, repeat steps 1 thru 5

Repeat this all the way up your thoracic spine.

That’s going to help mobilize the spine into extension and activate some of those deep muscles that we need to keep that good thoracic spine posture.

Exercise 3: Lower Trap Activator

The third exercise is the Lower Trap Activator. It activates the lower trapezius and serratus anterior and opens up the space in front of the shoulder for the tendon and the bursa.

For this exercise, you need a band. You can use a belt or a rope, even a pair of pants. Anything to get just a little bit of force pulling your arm away from your body.

Set up the band just above your elbow. Have a little bit on tension so when you pull down, you’re not rowing. You’re rotating your shoulder girdle back, opening up space.

When you do the exercise, it’s important that you don’t allow the shoulder to rotate forward. When you pull your elbow down, you open up the space. It rotates backward.

1. With the band in position, elbow at a 45 degree angle, pull your elbow toward your ribs
2. Rotate your shoulder girdle back
3. Hold for 5 seconds
4. Relax

Do 4 reps, with 5-second holds.

Exercise 4: Retracted Rotations

The fourth and final exercise is retracted rotations. The key is in the setup.

We want our shoulder blades retracted so they pinch together. We also want that posterior tilt movement, so the upward rotation of the shoulder girdle, not the downward rotation.

1. Stand up tall, arms at your sides, shoulder blades pinched together, make fists
2. Rotate your arms so your wrists turn forwards (external rotation)
3. Hold for 5 seconds
4. Rotate your arms so your wrists turn behind you (internal rotation)
5. Hold for 5 seconds
6. Return to neutral position

That’s one rep. Do 4 reps with 5-second holds. On each rotation, try to get as deep as you can.

You’re going to feel your shoulder blades want to come apart, so don’t let them come apart. Keep your shoulders down, don’t hike them up to your ears.

You’re training your body to maintain this open position and posture when you’re relaxed. How does that feel?

Next Steps to Fix the Root Cause

Our goal here was to help you quickly get some shoulder impingement pain relief, dropping your pain level from whatever you started at—zero out of ten if it was a five, six, or eight—down at least a few notches.

As I said, this is not a long-term solution. It is just getting you some quick pain relief.

We’ve got some other resources for you here.

4 Shoulder Impingement Tests to Differentiate From AC Joint Injury – If you aren’t sure whether you have shoulder impingement or an AC joint injury, read this article and do the at-home self-tests to make sure you’re taking the right steps toward recovery.

4 At-Home Exercises to Improve Shoulder Mobility – The next step once you get the pain notched down is starting to correct why you have shoulder pain in the first place.

Finally, the Shoulder Pain Solution. When people ask me what I should do if I want to get rid of this pain for good, the shoulder pain solution is the answer.

Hope to see you on the inside.