If you have shoulder pain, you have to try this simple stretch. It could potentially relieve your shoulder pain within seconds.
This simple stretch is based on an exercise from the book “Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention 5th Edition.” This book is by Dr. John Kirsch, and I highly recommend it. Dr. John Kirsch is an orthopedic surgeon, and he wrote this book based on a discovery he made. In his book, Dr. John Kirsch says that over 95% of shoulder surgeries are unnecessary.
His discovery has to do with stretching your arms overhead and hanging from a bar. He thinks (and I believe this) that hanging like this is the most important exercise to restore the dynamics of the bone and ligaments that pinch the rotator cuff muscles.
How to relieve shoulder pain:
1. Get a bar you can hang from.
2. Hang from the bar with both hands, your palms facing forward.
3. When you start out, don’t hang your entire body weight. Stand on a chair and put your hands on the bar, stretching your arms with just some bodyweight until you get used to it. Gradually increase resistance to the point where you’re hanging your entire body weight.
4. When you’re hanging, keep your shoulders relaxed. The only tension should be in your grip strength.
5. Start out hanging for 10 seconds, resting for 1 minute, and repeat. Work your way up to 30-second intervals, resting for 1 minute in-between.
6. Do this exercise for 10 minutes.
In the book, Dr. John Kirsch goes over more exercises you can add to this one. But I think you’re going to see a huge improvement in your pain with just this simple hanging exercise.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
