Having healthy and pain-free shoulders is the ideal goal. Preventing shoulder pain and injury is the best way to do this! Learn how to prevent shoulder issues through increasing strength and stability as well as releasing muscle tension.
Perhaps you’re lucky and have experienced pain-free shoulders so far. Many, many adults experience shoulder pain at some point in their life. This becomes more likely as you age.
The crazy part is that shoulder injuries often begin way before you actually feel the pain or truly experience the injury. You may feel no shoulder pain and think you don’t have any shoulder issues when in fact you may be on your way to a shoulder injury or rotator-cuff tear.
Shoulder Injuries
Shoulder injuries are some of the hardest injuries to deal with. I’ve dealt with my fair share of injuries from my years as an elite ice dancer. I’ve experienced tendonitis in my knees, ankles, and elbows (developed from shoulder issues).
My shoulders have been by far the most difficult to fix, and I didn’t even have a rotator-cuff tear. I’m thankful to have made it out of my professional ice dancing career relatively injury-free compared to many at the top level in ice skating. This was partly due to the fact I did many hours of off-ice conditioning every week in addition to my on-ice training.
Prevention is cure if you’re able to go that route. The rotator cuff is very advanced and can do many movements. Shoulders are used to carry bags, get plates or bowls out of cabinets, lift your child, and to do most daily activities. When damaged, movement and what you can do become very limited.
Help Prevent Shoulder Pain
This post is primarily for those who aren’t experiencing shoulder pain yet and want to stay pain free. It’s also for those who have had shoulder injuries, have worked with a physical therapist and graduated from their own physical therapy, and know what is good for their bodies. When in doubt, always see a physical therapist if you’re experiencing pain. Pain typically originates from somewhere else. For example, if you’re experiencing knee pain, it’s often originating not from your knees but from either or both your hips and ankles.
Inexpensive Home Fitness Strength Equipment
Below I’m going to give you tips and ideas for strengthening your shoulders and especially upper back to help support your shoulders. It’s difficult to strengthen your back without equipment. So, I’ve put together a list of inexpensive equipment you can get and use at home or anywhere.
Most of the equipment and many of the exercises are to help strengthen your upper back to stabilize your shoulders. The dumbbells, kettlebells, and tubing can be used for shoulder or rotator-cuff specific exercises as well such as shoulder press and more.
Just click on each image to learn more about the product!
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You can even use it to lightly assist exercises such as single leg squat with your leg in front at a 90 degree angle and train your muscles to do it efficiently.
Note: this pull-up bar does completely attach to the door frame. It’s not removable like some where you can take it out whenever you want. I love the way ours looks on our bedroom door. You can hardly notice it’s there. You can completely close the door and walk under it without adjusting anything.
Total Upper Body Workout Bar (Door Frame Removable)
Tom and I also have this pull-up bar in another door frame of our house. This bar is great because it’s removable so you can take it in and out of your door frame any time you’d like. If you want a pull-up bar that is removable, this is a great option.
Dumbbells are my go-to piece of equipment. They are great for working any part of the body. I particularly like to do bent-over row with dumbbells to help strengthen the back and stabilize the shoulders.
Kettlebells are awesome! They are really great for challenging your body in a different way than traditional dumbbells. Single arm bent-over row with a single leg 
Resistance Band Set with Door Anchor, Ankle Strap, Exercise Chart, and Resistance Band Carrying Case
I started using this type of resistance band to strengthen my back and shoulders last year. There are so many options and angles you can work with this band. Plus, you can use it for other body parts, too, and work your legs and more.
Work Out the Tension
I tend to get tons of tension in my upper to middle back (traps and rhombiod muscles). Working out the tension with foam rollers, tennis, balls, and golf balls helps the back feel better and improves posture. When you have better posture, your shoulders will be in better placement, therefore, less stress on your shoulders.
You may already have these at home! If you’re really daring, you can use a golf ball the same way you would use the tennis ball. It will get deeper and can work areas in more detail. Be careful with the tennis and golf balls, and listen to your body.
Try It Out
You may choose to get all the equipment or one piece of equipment. You may do all the exercises or just one. Find what works best for you! You may find one exercise works great for you now, and another may be better in the future. Your body will change over time, but it will always be your unique body. Remember, if you feel any pain while performing an exercise, see your physician and/or physical therapist.
You may also enjoy my Injury Prevention for Sports Series:
Injury Prevention for Sports: Warm-Up
Injury Prevention for Sports: Movement and Awareness
Injury Prevention for Sports: Cool-Down
Injury Prevention for Sports: Sports Conditioning
Injury Prevention for Sports: Recovery
Off-Ice Conditioning: Flexibility Routine for Figure Skaters and Dancers
Enjoy discovering what’s best for you and your body! Here’s to healthy and pain-free shoulders.
Photo Credit: lanak / 123RF Stock Photo
I use a lot of the same equipment in my workout room at home. Great tips!
We have most of these items in our home gym and they definitely help to build up the shoulders!
Recently i had surgery of my left shoulder and trying to recover from it. My doctor also suggested me to do some exercise and it’s working well. Medication is not enough for complete recovery you have to do stretches, yoga and exercise for better result and health progress.
Thanks for sharing this excellent article on shoulder injuries and prevention through exercise! As a physiotherapist, I completely agree with you that shoulder injuries often start even before you realize. Keeping the muscles around the shoulders strong and flexible can be very helpful as you mentioned! Also, what is important to note is that posture plays a huge role when it comes to shoulder injuries as well. If your upper back muscles are weak because you sit in poor postures all day long at your desk, then you might be even more susceptible to injuring your shoulder. Bad posture puts your shoulder blades in a poor position and your rotator cuff muscles connect your shoulder blade to your arm bone. This means that bad positioning of your shoulder blade can influence the length tension of your rotator cuff muscles, increasing the tension put on them and placing them in a position where they can be aggravated or even torn with repetitive use. It is also important that you focus on your posture as you strengthen you shoulder so that you are not placing additional stress on your rotator cuff or other muscles that support your shoulder joint.
When you are feeling tightness and soreness you may want to try applying heat and ice to the area that is hurting. When using heat, moist heat is more beneficial. Moist heat application can be accomplished by a warm bath shower or moist heat pad. If you have a dry heating pad, wrap the pad securely in a plastic baggy, and cover the baggy with a small damp towel. Turn the heating pad on and this will produce moist heat.
Thanks for the tips. I have applied heat and ice to my shoulder and it’s well now. I’m more encouraged to learn more alternative medicinal practices.
When you are feeling tightness and soreness you may want to try applying heat and ice to the area that is hurting. When using heat, moist heat is more beneficial. Moist heat application can be accomplished by a warm bath shower or moist heat pad. If you have a dry heating pad, wrap the pad securely in a plastic baggy, and cover the baggy with a small damp towel. Turn the heating pad on and this will produce moist heat.
I utilize a ton of the same supplies in my workout room at home. Extraordinary tips!
Home workouts is really somewhat better since you get the comfort of working out without being too conscious.
some nutritional food can aid for shoulder pain and other exercise equipment are worth to use.
My back and shoulders have really been bothering me lately – it’s what comes with my line of work, even when I’m careful. Looks like I need to work in a trip to the gym at the end of the day to work out the tension and hopefully ease the discomfort. I’ll have to pick me up one of those foam rollers; sounds almost too simple.
Soothing music plays softly in the background as your massage therapist begins to work away the stress of your busy day-to-day responsibilities, in a relaxing quiet atmosphere… Thanks for sharing this post. 🙂
Lately, I am experiencing back pain that is why I am thinking about having my proper diet and regular exercise for it to be cured and avoided. I have searched a lot about it to be safe and I’m glad that I found this article of yours, Christina! There are things that when neglected, it becomes worse. As early as we can, we should have our attention to it.
Thanks for sharing this excellent article on shoulder injuries and prevention through exercise!
thank you very mush ….
Thank you for sharing this excellent post. I was looking for this the whole time. Glad I have visited your website.
Great tips for cheap exercise gear at home.
This is all very good advice, especially since I play tons of tennis. My shoulders and elbows will be pleased
Some great advice here, I tore my shoulder overdoing it at the gym on the lat pulldown machine.
Slowly on the road to recovery, hope to be back in about 3 to 4 weeks time.
Wont be so adventurous next time round.
Thanks for sharing this awesome tips with your viewers including me. I really like the way you have mention all the equipment here.I too want to share great content related to this here
I have been out of the gym for almost 7 weeks now with a shoulder injury, although I am still able to do lower body work.
You have a few tips on here I am going to try so great post thanks for sharing it.
Great post, thank you for sharing these tips on avoiding pain in your shoulders during an exercise.
Two thumbs up!
Hi,
Great tips!
Recently I met an accident had gone through a shoulder surgery. My shoulder is really bothering me. I really needed this valuable information.
Thanks for sharing!!
Great tips! I never got to the gym anymore so all my fitness takes place at home. Now I really have to make sure that I don’t injure my shoulder
Hi Christina,
It’s a great post, the information you have shared is really helpful for me and who are looking for some great and efficient health tips . Thanks!
Wow, such good tips and facts! I host a site with much more specific issues involving Gait analysis therapy and Strength and flexibility as they pertain to running. Thanks for the info!
Hi, I also you most of the equipment at home along with youtube workout yoga and pilates videos. Thanks for sharing these tips! 🙂
Great tips … specially golf ball and tennis ball one was amazing. Thanks for sharing such a useful article.
Relief your body specially shoulders and limbs through these useful tips.Amazing article with superb info.thanks for sharing. A really nice effort indeed.
My shoulders are bothering me a lot since along time but after reading this excellent article i really get relieved of the pain.Absolutely amazing tips. Thanks for sharing useful info.
Amazing article with useful tips.Really beneficial idea and true remedy for shoulder illness. i am so happy to find your superb post that helps benefit my health. Thanks for your kind and helpful post.
Thanks for this very informative article!
For the longest I was trying to find ways to relieve back and shoulder pain besides my massage services. Its refreshing reading article learning about ways that can help.
Thanks again for the tips,
Connnie
Great Tips!!
Dumbbells and Kettlebells are awesome! These equipments are really very useful for workout for any part of the body. I generally use these equipments that help a lot to strengthen the back and stabilize the shoulders.
Good Work!!
Thanks very much for the blog post, very much appreciated!
Excellent article! Shoulder is one of the important joint of our body. Shoulder’s strength require in day to day activities. As a occupational therapist, I always recommend for the daily exercise to all, specially shoulder and knee joints. You have tried to cover all the basic and advance tips for the shoulder.
Yes Christina, I agree with ‘Prevention is always better than cure” mantra and I also found that using a foam roller is an effective way to release the tension that build up in our muscles .