Transcription:

For this session the equipment you'll need is a wall and a chair, and also have a small towel handy, which you may need to fold up to some thickness that will work for you when we do the shoulder stretches. This session, we're going to focus on two movements of the arm in the shoulder joint. This movement, which we class as a chest opening stretch and the opposite movement taking the arm across the body. And then we'll also do some neck stretches in the chair. So let's get into the shoulder stretches for this session. The first one is this movement of the arm in the shoulder joint. Notice I've got my arm just above shoulder height because we know that having the arm too low, you'll get a stretch, but you'll miss what for most people is the tightest line through the front of the shoulder and the chest. And also version number one of two versions is the palm is facing camera.

So we're going to use the wall for this exercise. Stand quite close to the wall, but not immediately facing on. Notice I'm angled around just a little bit. And I'm going to demonstrate with the arm away from camera to begin with. Slowly reach the arm up to where the arm is making about a 45 degree angle with regard the thoracic spine, the middle back. Breathing nice and comfortably, your first goal is to get as much of the front of that arm and potentially right to the front of the shoulder in contact with the wall. Now, if you're trying that and you're way off the wall, that is what your towel is for.

It's much easier to relax when the brain senses contact between the parts of the body and what you want to be resting on. So we're using the towel, so you feel the contact of the front of the shoulder, and now the towel. Breathe and relax there. There's a real tendency to slump to avoid this stretch. So each time you breathe in, use your chest lifting cue, and that will straighten you up. And each time you breathe out, you're trying to lean in against the wall. In order to be able to hold it here with less effort, put this hand on the wall like so. Breathe into the chest that you're stretching, chest that's closest to the wall. Now let's try the Contract–Relax here. So the palm of the stretching arm that I'm tapping on the wall, for the count of five you're going to try and pull that arm through the wall.

The wall provides the resistance very nicely. So let's try it together. Here we go. For a count of five, four – you're pressing or pulling the arm into the wall – three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out let the whole body relax. Take another deep breath in and as you breathe out now, can you go a little bit further. If your shoulder is not on the wall, try and take it closer to the wall. Another way to make the stretch a little bit more intense is to move this shoulder around without losing the contact of the first shoulder on the wall. Just hold it here for another two to three deep breaths in and out. Hopefully you got a little bit movement, more movement. You're not trying to go further now, you're just trying to relax in this new position. And to come out, turn so your chest-on to the wall. Grab that towel, so it doesn't fall down, and bring the arm down.

Okay. Let's try the same movement on the other side. So you're starting angled onto the wall just a little bit. Slowly reach the arm up and look at the angle, about 45 degrees there. So it's not at shoulder height, it's not right up here. And if you feel like you're not going to get the shoulder on the wall, put the towel in position. Breathing comfortably, each time you breathe in you're trying to lift the chest up towards the ceiling. And each time you breathe out, you're trying to get as much of the arm and right to the shoulder in contact with towel and or wall. Other hand can come in position to help hold the position. Breathe deeply into the side of the chest that you're now stretching.

Every time you breathe out, relax a little bit more, lean in a little bit more. Relax your belly. Now we'll do the contraction on this side. So the hand that's on the wall, that's the one you're going to be pulling into the wall for a count of five, four, three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, let the whole system relax a little bit. Take another full breath in and as you breathe out again, that's when you want to go further into the stretch. Leaning against the wall more, or if your shoulder is already fully on the wall, the other shoulder rotated away from the wall. Moving slowly, not trying to force anything. Breathe deeply into that side of the chest that you're now stretching. Two more breaths. And to come out of the position, just turn chest on, grab the towel and bring the arm down. Shake out.

Okay, now let's do the opposite movement of the arm. So go back to your first side, which is this one for me., Bring the arm across the body and try and capture it with the elbow. And you can do it nice and slowly. Some people like to really fling the arm across, and that gets them into position more easily. If you can, this hooking arm try and hold the side of your head, but don't cover your ear because that feels a bit uncomfortable. And then you're simply using the hooking arm to try and pull the arm onto the throat. Notice I've got my arm right across my throat. It's not down near my chest. This allows us to get maximum movement. Can you breathe and relax in this position? And what do you feel? We noticed that for many people, this is not a particularly restricted shoulder movement, but that might not be your experience, so we're trying them all out through this series. Breathe and relax.

Okay. So to produce the stretch you bought the arm across the throat. So to contract, we'd trying to do the opposite. You're trying to push the arm away from the body and it's being held still by the hooking arm. So let's try that together for a count of five – gently initially, so you can make sure no movement happens – for five, four, you're pushing the arm away from the body, trying to, for three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, relax. Take another full breath in and as you breathe out, can you go further into the stretch? Can you pull the arm closer onto the body? Hopefully you found some more movement. So we want to hold that new position and breathe and relax. Let the brain get used to the new position, and be able to relax in that position. And to come out of the first side, just let go and bring the arm down, shake it around a little bit.

Great. Let's do the other side. So can just come across slowly or try really flinging it across, capture it. And if you can hold the side of the head. If you really can't do that, then you just have to work a little bit harder to hold the position. Use the hooked arm to pull the arm onto your body. Across the throat, not down across the chest, and breathe comfortably. How does it feel on this second side compared to the first side? Few deep breaths in and out, trying to relax. And now we'll do the contraction. So the stretching arm, the one that you bought across the body, you're going to attempt to push it away from the body for five, four, three, two, one. Slowly stop that pushing action. Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, relax. Take another full breath in and as you breathe out, can you pull the arm closer to the body? Breathe and relax.

Hopefully you got a little bit more movement into the stretch, but at the very least it should feel more comfortable, your initial position, so breathe and relax, wherever you are. Good. Two more breaths. One more breath, and then let go, let the arm come down and shake out. Okay, back to the wall, and you may need your little towel. We're going to go back and do the first angle, but this time, rather than having the palm facing forward or palm on the wall, we're going to turn the arm over so it's the back of the hand that will be on the wall. We'll see whether the stretch is felt in a different part of the front of the arm here. So again, I'll do arm away from camera to begin with. So starting, just angled on, reach the arm up about 45 degrees.

The first time we did palm down, now we're rolling the arm up towards the ceiling and over so it's the back of the hand that's down. Put the towel in there if you think you'll need it. If you don't think you need it, you can keep that one out of there. Every time you breathe in, you're lifting the chest and standing up as straight as you can. And each time you breathe out, you're trying to lean into the wall, aiming to get the whole surface of the arm right to the front of the shoulder in contact with the wall. And the other hand here is used to help support you. Breathe into that side of the chest.

It's very common in this version for the arm to unwind itself. So perhaps you can roll it over so the back of the hand is still on the wall. And the contraction in this version is the same, but now it'll be the back of the hand or the back of the wrist that's pressing into the wall. So let's try that together. For the slow count of five, try and pull the arm through the wall – for five, four, three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and on the first out breath, relax. Take another full breath in and on this next out breath, see if you can go a little bit further into the stretch. You can lean in more if the shoulder is not yet in contact with the wall or the towel, and/or this shoulder can be moved away from the wall. Let's try for three more deep breaths in and out in this final position. Relax, lean into the wall. Try to relax your belly And to come out, turn face on, grab that towel if it's there and bring the arm down, shake out.

Second side. Lift the arm up nice and slowly. Try to avoid hoiking the shoulder up towards your ear, it'll just feel uncomfortable in the neck. Look at the angle – we're aiming for about 45 degrees – and then roll the arm over, so it's the back of the hand. And I'll turn away from camera now. Every time you breathe in, lifting the chest up towards the ceiling, every time you breathe out, you're trying to get whole of the arm, right to the front of the shoulder, in contact with the wall. Breathe deeply into that side of the chest. Every time you breathe out, lean into the wall. Okay, let's do the contraction here. So it's the back of the hand or the wrist that'll be pulling into the wall. Let's do that now for five, four, three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, relax the whole system. Take another deep breath in, and as you breathe out, try to move a little bit further into the stretch.

And then focus on breathing and relaxing. Let's do three more breaths in and out. Two more breaths. Last breath. And to come out, turn chest-on to the wall first and then slowly bring the arm down. Okay. Now let's sit on our chair and do some nice neck exercises. So sit down comfortably on the chair, nice and stable, feet flat on the floor. Sit up as straight as you can, real spine lengthening, and just gently pull a head back into the body. Especially if you know you have a bit of a head forward posture ordinarily. Breathing comfortably we're going to do a simple neck rotation. So all you do is see how far, do it with me, how far can you turn the head in one direction? You'll reach a point where the brain says that's as far as I can go, but it's lying to you.

At that point take a full breath in and as you breathe out, make an effort to turn the head further, and you'll find it will go further. You'll reach another barrier. Take another deep breath in, and as you breathe out again, make an effort to turn a little bit further. Pause in this position for two or three deep breaths in and out. One more breath. Okay. And then slowly come back through the centre and we'll do the second side. So turn your head as far as you can. And the same thing will happen; your brain will say, "That's it, I can't go any further." At that point, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, make an effort to go further, and you'll find you can. One more time, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, make an effort to turn the head further. And now breathe and relax in this final position for today. Big deep breaths, one more breath. And to come out, slowly come back through the centre and a brief return to the first position.

And to conclude the sequence for today, we're going to do a little chin to chest movement. We've done this before, so follow along with me. Take a breath in, and as you breathe out slowly let the head come forward in a chin to movement. Breathing comfortably. And then you'll reach two fingers of each hand up to the back of the head there. And every time you breathe out, allow a little bit more of the weight of the arms to rest on the back of the neck. No need to pull on the head. Breathe deeply, relax the shoulders. And here will do a little contraction. Hold the head in its current forward position and very gently, for a count of three, try and press the head back to the upright position. Don't allow any movement. So for three, two, one. Slowly stop contracting, take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, relax.

Take another full breath in and this time as you breathe out, see if you can take the head further into the stretch. Two more deep breaths in and out here. And then release the hands, run the fingers around to the temples, take a breath in and help the head up with the arms. Smaller muscles now in the neck compared to the shoulders, we find that just a three count for the contraction is sufficient. Let's do the opposite movement; taking the head back. The key to this movement is opening the mouth wide. I'm not going to talk, open your mouth wide and we'll do it together.

When you've gone as far back as you can, breathe and relax there. And then if you want to, have a play with trying to close the teeth. Don't force that, it's a very strong stretch in the throat. Just try to close the teeth. And to come out, reverse your way out. So open the mouth again, reach a hand up and help the head come forwards. We're going to go back to the first position, but rather than being in this fairly upright position, we're going to make it more of a whole spine slump. So let your hips rock back a little bit. Follow along with me. Let the chin go forward again. Reach the fingers up to the back of the head. And as you breathe out each time allow the weight of the arms to rest on the back of the neck.

And now that the spine is slumped, see whether it feels slightly different. For me today the stretch is now right between the shoulder blades, whereas before it was in the back of the neck. Couple more deep breaths in and out. And to come out, run the fingers around to your temples, breathe in and help the head up. So that's it for today. Did some shoulder stretches and some neck stretches. So don't be surprised if you feel a little bit of soreness there in the next couple of days. I'll see you next time.

Program 8: Wall pec./biceps, neck flexion, rotation, extension

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