Hi there, this is Dana Ranahan of Body Works Sports Physiotherapy in North Vancouver and we’re here today to show you a progression on one of our exercises. We’re going to do some shoulder circles while lying on a foam roller.
Now the first exercise that you’ve seen in a previous video is working on coordinating your breath with the arms coming overhead.
The Initial Exercise
- Lie on your back with your head supported and knees and feet in good alignment.
- You can place a little ball between your knees to help keep your inner thighs active and feet in good position
- Work on bringing your arms up to a 90 degree position with your hands facing each other. Imagine you’re holding a beach ball, and keep energy through those arms with the arms staying straight.
- So, breathe in, then as you breathe out, soften your chest and bring your arms overhead
- Breathe in and come back down to a 90 degree position.
Now we’re going to progress to adding some shoulder circles. So we’re going to do the same pattern where we think about breathing in.
The Progression
- As you breathe out, soften your chest, engage through your core, and the arms come up overhead and circle around all the way down towards the hip
- Then breathing in coming back to 90
- Breathing out, soften the chest, arms come up overhead and around
This is a great exercise for improving mobility through the upper back and shoulders while maintaining stability through the trunk and neck.
Repetitions of 15 or 20 to try to improve mobility. Repeate for 2 or 3 sets.
For more information check out our website at www.body-works.ca. Thank you.