Many people will know how important it is to stretch frequently! It’s one of the best things you can do for your body and to help you to get more into the habit, each month we’ll be suggesting a different stretch which will help you to stay flexible and encourage your muscles to work better for you.

The shoulder stretch can be used effectively to treat shoulder pain and especially, poor range of motion. For this exercise, all you’ll need is a door! Make sure you put something under the door to support it and prevent it from being damaged, then open the door slightly, place your hand on the top, sideways on, then gradually sink your bodyweight to allow the shoulder to stretch. You can sink even more if you’re able or you want more of a stretch. If it feels a bit too much for you, come up for a little break and then slowly sink back down again.

Hanging here in this way will improve the whole arm, shoulder, intercostals and lower back. Once you’ve done one side, try facing the other way and stretching out the other shoulder. This is a great alternative to hanging on bars at the gym, as when people use these bars they tend to hang from them using their whole bodyweight, which can cause the body to go tense. This can often lead to other problems and leave you with the result that you aren’t able to relax the muscles of the shoulder afterwards.

Let us know how you get on and if you’d like to share your own images of the stretch, just hit us up on social media!