In a previous blog, we talked about the three different stages of the frozen shoulder, the freezing, frozen, and thawing stage. If you haven’t read that one, you can find it here. In this blog, we will discuss some exercises for these three different phases of the frozen shoulder. 

Freezing Phase

So let’s start with the freezing phase. Just like the other phases, this phase can take up to 12 months. And to be honest, it can even be longer. If you don’t have a good coping strategy during this phase, your capsule will stay painful. And that’s exactly one of the best advice you can get. Respect the pain. Keep your arm moving, but keep it within your pain-free range of motion. Only then, your capsule irritation will get less and your pain will decrease. But besides this advice, you can also start with some easy exercises. The videos below show some exercises you can do during the first phase of the frozen shoulder. 

PENDULUM EXERCISE

TOE TOUCH

ARM REACH

Try to do these exercises a couple of times a day for 20 reps. And why 20 reps? Because in this phase we want to put a little gentle stretch to the shoulder joint. So it’s not important to make the exercises hard and heavy, it’s more important to do them often. Make sure that it’s okay to feel a little discomfort for 4 hours after your training session. If the shoulder was irritated for more than 4 hours, try to decrease the intensity. 

Frozen Phase

At this point, the shoulder is less painful but is still stiffening up. You will probably feel like you can move more without increasing the pain. In this phase, it’s all about gradually increasing the movements. Please remind yourself that it’s in this phase okay to feel some discomfort within the first 24 hours after your training session.

SCAPTION EXERCISE

BENT OVER ROW

The last exercise for this phase is a mobilization exercise for your upper back. It’s important that we increase the mobility in the spine so that we can compensate for a lack of movement in your shoulder. 

THORACIC ROTATION 

 

Thawing Phase

At this point your shoulder isn’t really painful anymore and you feel that your shoulder is getting looser and looser. The exercises in this phase are a little bit harder to do and need to be focused on bringing back functionality. When you start with these exercises try to do the exercises 3 sets of 15 reps. If you feel like you can increase the weight, you can gradually move towards 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

DOWNWARD FACING DOG

SHOULDER RAISE

SQUAT AND REACH

 

Specialized Physio Online

These were some of the exercises you can do when you’re having a frozen shoulder. Make sure that the exercises we showed for the different phases should be used for directional purposes. Because a full tailored program should be done with a specialized physio. So If you need more personal help, consider booking an online appointment with our specialized physios