- How many of you have shoulder pain?

Raise your hands.

Oh, on second thought, skip that and join me, Cassy Vieth, for a Quick Fit class that you'll want to repeat frequently to improve the problems that may be contributing to your painful shoulders.

[bright music] Standing comfortable with your shoes off, let's begin with some gentle shoulder circles.

In my opinion, poor posture is the number one contributor to painful shoulders and rotator cuffs.

And this is good news because posture is something you can control with practice and mindfulness.

[inhales] A big inhale and then as you exhale, pull those shoulders back and down.

One more time.

Big circle, lift, pull back, press 'em down.

Now show me your palms.

We're making a low W and push away.

Good, elbows pulling in by your sides, palms up.

[inhales] Big inhale, shoulders back, and push away.

Let's do that one more time.

Palms are up, elbows are down, shoulders are back, now press away.

Very good.

Now there are three main problem areas for potential causes of your shoulder pain, and all of them are improved with better posture and mechanics.

Now let's move the hands back, elbows forward.

Good.

Some elbow circles.

Are you standing tall?

Is your head and neck right up above your chest and shoulders?

[inhales] Stomach's in, very good.

All right, now palm up, extend the arms.

Nice circles, moving those arms actually more behind you as opposed to in the front.

You need to stretch the chest muscles.

In fact, as your arms move back, lean into it a little and then exhale, enjoying the stretch.

All right, now let's reach that right arm to the back.

Take your other hand and right in your armpit, these muscles right here, I'd like you to massage that and see if you've got any tightness in there that you can loosen.

It gets very tight, and just a little self-massage while you're stretching.

[inhales] Big inhale, exhale.

[exhales] Very good.

And the other side, open up that arm, [inhales] reach across and find that muscle right between your chest and your shoulder, and massage.

You might find some little painful nuggets in there that you didn't know were there, and that prevents your muscles from stretching.

All right, good.

All right, one more circle.

And then let's reach your arm up overhead, [inhales] grab that wrist, and you can actually tuck your tailbone under a little bit.

Exhale, [exhales] pull that arm, stretching through the shoulder, opening up that joint.

Inhale, [inhales] exhale, enjoy that stretch.

I can feel that all the way down my ribs into my hip.

Grab the other wrist, squeeze your hind end, and pull over the ear.

Pause, inhale, [inhales] exhale, and enjoy this.

Now, standing up with your arms by your ears, that upper waist rotation, so right up through here, we're rotating the spine.

So keep those arms by your ears, arch back, and a little lean forward.

[inhales] Don't forget your breathing, big inhales, long exhales.

And let's go the other way.

[inhales and exhales] And blow, inhale, lift through the shoulders, the spine as you're moving it around.

Very good, okay.

Next, let's lengthen the chest muscles.

So using a doorway, a post, or an outside corner within your room, we're going to put the arm right up against near the edge.

Elbow is at shoulder height, nice 90 degree.

So you're in line with your body, with your elbow, and I'd like you to take that inside leg and step it forward.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Look over your opposite shoulder and enjoy the stretch.

Pause.

Come out about two inches with a big inhale, [inhales] reach up about an inch higher, exhale, leaning into it and enjoy this.

Don't rush.

These over-tight muscles are, it's really necessary to stretch them because they're just contributing to pulling your shoulder in the wrong position.

All right, and we'll switch sides.

So don't be too close to the wall.

All right, have that elbow near the edge and then take your inside leg, big inhale, [inhales] step it forward, and enjoy that stretch.

Look away.

Come out enough to take a deep belly inhale [inhales] and then exhale.

[exhales] Good, one more time, reaching up about an inch, exhale and enjoy it.

[exhales] Let's do each arm one more time.

So check your form, make sure you're not too close to the wall.

Elbow is at about shoulder height.

Take that inside leg, step it forward, and look away.

Now let's reach up about four inches higher, three to four inches, [inhales] and enjoy that.

That feels wonderful.

And look away, exhale.

[exhales] And switching sides.

Starting at about 90 degrees, shoulder is lined up with the elbow, inside leg, step it forward.

[inhales] Big inhale to prepare, exhale, [exhales] look away.

Come out, lift about three to four inches higher [inhales] and do that all again.

Step into it, exhale, look away, and just enjoy this.

No need to rush.

And come out of it.

Very good.

All right, next, we're going to grab a band or a towel if you don't have a band handy, and we're going to do some more exercises for the rotator cuffs.

So if you have a band, grab the end and just wrap around your hand.

If you have a towel, then hook the towel around your wrist.

Place that elbow right at your side and keep it there.

Palm up.

And I'd like you to pull away.

Okay, you've got a nice 90-degree elbow, elbow is staying at your side.

[inhales] And use your back muscles, your rotator cuffs, there you go, to pull this arm out.

Nice, slow and controlled, and you're controlling it on the pull out and on the return.

Good.

Out, use those shoulder blades to pull.

Don't think about the hand pulling the band, think about the back.

All right, now a hold, right about halfway.

Pull, make the arm work.

And then about a five-second count the rest of the way.

Five, four, three, two, and stretch.

We'll do that again.

Elbow at your side, a nice 90-degree bend.

Palm is up and open.

One.

[inhales] Are your shoulders pulled back as far as you can get them and down?

Okay, shoulders back and down as you go through these moves.

Again.

[inhales and exhales] Have nice posture while you stand here, stomach pulled in.

Once again, remembering to use your back to rotate the shoulder.

All right, now hold, pull on your band or your towel, give it some resistance.

And then about five seconds, pull across your body.

Terrific, let's switch arms.

Palm is, let's see, palm is up, about a 90-degree bend again, elbow tight at the side, and pull out.

[inhales and exhales] Two, three, four.

Nice and controlled, getting as much range of motion as you can.

And then hold, hold.

Pull if you need more tension on your band, make this arm work.

And now slowly across.

They're both getting a workout.

Okay, one more time, [inhales] and open, open, [inhales] open.

So the arm doing the work is the one moving out to the side.

Hold it here.

Five, four, three, two, and slowly work it across.

Excellent job.

The problems in the shoulders will most likely be a lifelong battle between over-tight muscles on the front, weak back muscles, and poor posture.

Maybe scar tissue has built up, but a routine like this can reduce the pain, improve the muscle tone and joint positioning.

So repeat this class with me several times a week by logging in to pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, along with all the other healing and muscle balancing classes to keep your entire body feeling great so you can live better, longer.

See you soon.

- 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.