Quick Fit with Cassy

- Shoulder pain is so common due to our modern life, but also because the shoulder girdle allows for the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body, and it involves four joints.

Hello, I'm Cassy.

Today's Quick Fit class will work to create space, realign, and strengthen this very complex system.

So let's get started.

[upbeat music] Let's just begin with some really easy shoulder swings to get warmed up.

Just go right across your body, letting momentum take the arm across and back.

And don't forget to start your breathing.

Nice, long inhales and extra long exhales.

Back and forth.

[inhales] Breathe it in and out.

And we'll switch arms, across.

And as we warm up, please gather some equipment.

You'll need a small towel, a band, and a nearby doorway.

Back and forth.

[inhales] Last couple swings.

And we'll grab that towel, just a small towel or a washcloth.

And if you don't have a nearby doorway, the wall will work just fine.

Just place the towel on the wall or the doorway, right at shoulder height, and I'd like you to press your elbow into the doorway or wall.

And then watch my shoulder.

You'll see I allow the shoulder girdle to move back.

Okay, do that again, take a big inhale, exhale and press that elbow into the wall, allowing your forearm, your wrist, and your hand to just sink down towards that shoulder.

And you might have to take a few deep breaths in and out to allow that shoulder to relax backwards.

All right, and then we'll switch sides.

And feel free to repeat this on each shoulder a few times.

Okay, inhale [inhales] and exhale.

And it will get easier and you'll get more movement with practice.

You see, the shoulder joint is a synovial joint, meaning it's fluid-filled, and we want that fluid to be able to move freely in the joint to keep all those soft tissues that are in there nice and plumped up.

All right, pressing it back.

It feels really good.

All right, we'll finish up.

And next, I'd like you to grab a band.

Now, if you don't have a band, feel free to use a towel, but having something that is resistant but with a little give is really ideal.

So hold your band out in front of you at about shoulder height, and then put a little tension on it, and then lift it up overhead.

Breathe in.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Really stretching those shoulders up, opening the joint.

And then make a W with your elbows.

You can either allow the band to go behind your head if you have space, make a Y, or you can bring the band down in front of you, okay?

But the idea is to keep a little tension on the band as you lift and lower.

And to stretch the chest.

So when you're down in this W, you can press your hands open and then reach back up for the big Y, keeping that tension.

Breathe it in, then exhale, bring it down.

I like the way the band keeps trying to pull my hands together.

Last time, up and exhale down.

Great, great stretch.

Next, we'll go down to the floor so we can strengthen the muscles in our back, okay?

So go down onto your hands and knees, and then we'll stretch out face down.

Okay.

[exhales] All right, first thing is we'll just make a nice 90-degree bend at our elbows and then lift up off the floor and down, okay?

Try to keep as much of your chest off the floor as possible.

You can use the other arm to support you.

All right, one more and we'll switch arms.

90-degree elbow out to the side.

Use the back to lift the arm.

So these rhomboids are very important shoulder stabilizers.

You need a lot of stabilizing muscles to control the shoulder blade and to help the shoulder blade track properly to support the shoulder movements.

All right, now, together, lift, squeeze the back, relax, lift.

And you can squeeze your hind end to help support your low back.

[inhales] Lift, lift.

Try to keep the wrists as high as the elbows.

And a little rest.

And we'll repeat that again.

[inhales] Breathe it in and out.

[exhales] Get that one arm and lift for five, four, and we're not swinging, we're not using momentum, we're squeezing the back.

Last one, and we'll switch sides.

And five, four, three, two, one.

And two arms, okay, little rest there.

Squeeze your bottom, lift the chest, and five, four.

And you can just let your nose face the floor for a nice neutral neck.

All right, and a little rest.

Shift the hips around.

[inhales and exhales] And then two arms back by your hips, lift the chest up, all right?

Lift, lift.

Squeezing the back once again.

We're not throwing the arms around or using momentum.

Okay, so right now, your palms are facing the floor, so is your nose.

Tuck the chin.

Now I'd like you to hold the arms up, rotate the hands so the palms are away from you as much as possible because that'll make the shoulders pull back into the right spot.

Good, keep moving those hands towards your legs and your hips.

And rest.

Good job, we'll be doing that one more time.

[inhales and exhales] Shift the hips around, and move those hands palm down by your hips, and for ten, nine.

Tuck that chin.

Rotate, trying to get those thumbs facing the ceiling with the palms away from you.

And come down to the floor, shift your hips, and we'll come up onto our hands and knees for a brief rest.

I'd like you to just do a brief cat stretch.

You know, that scaredy cat move where you pull your belly in, tuck your chin, tuck your tailbone under.

We wanna relieve these muscles that we just worked inadvertently to try to support our torso, right?

Now, stretch out, okay.

Get your hips in line with your knees and shoulders and lower yourself back down.

All right, our elbows are at a 90-degree again.

We're going to continue working those rhomboids or rhombus muscles in our back.

I want you to touch those fingertips overhead.

Elbows back.

[exhales] Reach it overhead.

Tuck your chin so you don't overstrain your neck.

Squeeze your bottom to help you keep a little bit more of your upper body off the floor.

Reach.

Take a break if you need to.

[inhales and exhales] Breathe as deep as you need to.

Don't hold your breath.

[inhales] Reach.

[exhales] Last one, reach.

Very good, and we'll push up onto our knees and hands.

We're going to do something called a push-up plus.

So right now we're ready to do a push-up, but we're not gonna go down to the ground.

We're only going to allow the shoulders to sink up and our body to settle down between our shoulders.

So look at my shoulders and you'll see as I push into the floor, my shoulders come down, my body lifts just a little bit.

It's not a big move.

And now we're gonna relax through the shoulders.

Good.

Keep those elbows straight.

This is a tricky one to get used to.

We normally bend our elbows instead of letting the shoulder girdle move.

But this is a really important exercise 'cause we're trying to target these muscles that are in your ribs right below your armpit called serratus anterior.

They're important stabilizing muscles for that shoulder girdle.

Down and up.

Last one, down, taking your time, getting a nice, deep stretch, and press it up.

Very good.

If shoulder pain is an issue for you, these targeted stretches and strengtheners will work to begin rebalancing your muscles.

Meaning, strengthening the underactive muscles and releasing the overactive ones so that your joint can sit properly in its socket and the muscles can work the way they were meant to.

Log back in at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where you'll find targeted workouts you can easily do right from home with the end goal being to live better, longer.

See you next time.

– Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Greg and Carol Griffin, founders of ElderSpan Management, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.