Rebuild Your Shoulder

A STEP-BY-STEP SHOULDER REBUILD

Welcome to "Rebuild Your Shoulder in 30 Days." 

Let's talk about what this class is and isn't. 

This class is for you if you have mild shoulder pain or things just feel a bit off, or perhaps you have a referral to physical therapy but they can't get you in for another month or two. This class is a great way to jump-start the rehab process and is an excellent complement to physical therapy.

You should consult with a healthcare provider first if you've had a recent fall or trauma. You'll definitely want to get some imaging before you proceed. If you have severe pain, or pain that doesn't change with movement or position, that's another good indicator that you should get checked out by a healthcare professional. 

If at any point during this process you find that you're getting progressively weaker, that would again be an indication that you need to get an immediate medical consult.

How this class works: 

This class takes you through how I have been rehabbing shoulders in my clinic for over a decade. Most physical therapy starts a bit too far ahead and is missing the nuances of shoulder rehab. The shoulder does not work in isolation, and you can't just jump ahead to banded exercises and always get great results. Years of poor posture, microtrauma, and old injuries can affect the joint at a deeper level than just the muscles.

We'll take you through how to centrate the joint for best muscle activation, and then start gently loading the joint the way you did when you were first developing. Believe it or not, tummy time is an amazing shoulder exercise, and most adults are terrible at it. 

Another aspect of shoulder rehab that is often overlooked is the role that the neurovascular system plays. We'll show you how to assess and floss all three nerves that innervate your arm, and we'll have a bonus section on the dorsal scapular nerve.

The dorsal scapular nerve is a huge player in pain between the spine and shoulder blades. Most people try to fix this pain by just brutalizing the area with the lacrosse ball, and that only makes things worse. We have a better and way more comfortable way to address this issue with longer-lasting results. 

Posture is a major component of shoulder health, and we do a deep dive on how to perk up your posture, including some easy movement snacks that you can do throughout the day.

We then start loading the shoulder joint a bit more with medium and then advanced loading progressions. A lot of these include interacting with the floor or the wall, which helps build strength and stability in a closed chain position. 

As we progress, we'll do more open chain patterns like press - ups and carries. Education and understanding the why of exercises is key for motivation, so we include short educational videos so that you can grasp the bigger picture.

And we know not everyone is an audio learner, so every section includes a printable PDF so that you can absorb the information in a format that works best for your learning style. 

If any of these exercises cause pain or discomfort, slow down, check your form, and try another couple of gentle reps. If the pain stays the same or worsens, then discontinue. You may want to circle back to that particular exercise later as you've progressed through the class and see if it is becoming more comfortable. Never push through pain.

We recommend that you watch all of the videos in sequence. They are short and easy to understand. You may spend less time on some videos than others, but you should watch them all. 

It's very common for folks to think that an exercise is easy or doesn't apply to them until they try to do it. We often aren't aware of what our weak spots or compensations are, and these videos are designed to tease out and address those issues. 

We are super excited to bring you this class and wish you all the best in your 30-day shoulder rebuild.