Shoulder Stretches: Benefits and How-to

• Sitting with your shoulders rounded forward most days can raise your risk of neck and shoulder pain.
• Stretches like the wall angel, sleeper stretch, and arm swings can ease pain and improve mobility.
• Check in with your doctor if stretching doesn’t help or makes your pain and stiffness worse.

You might think of stretching as only useful for athletes or to help heal injuries. If so, it might surprise you to learn shoulder stretches can benefit most people — especially if you sit with your shoulder blades rounded forward for a large portion of your day.

A rounded forward posture puts you at risk for neck and shoulder problems, says Dave Candy, a physical therapist and owner of More 4 Life

Stretching becomes even more important, however, as you reach — and pass — middle age. 

“Rotator cuff tears become increasingly common after 40 years of age, even in people who have no shoulder pain at all,” Candy says. More than two million people in the United States seek care due to rotator cuff injuries each year, in fact. 

A tear can lead to pain, reduced mobility, and difficulty completing everyday tasks. But shoulder stretches offer a great way to improve posture, reduce risk of injuries, and decrease muscle stiffness and pain. 

These seven stretches can help keep your shoulders moving freely and reduce shoulder and neck pain.

1. Wall angel

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This stretch opens your chest, improves your overhead range of motion, and stretches your latissimus dorsi, Candy says. 

Your latissimus dorsi, or lats, are the broad V-shaped muscles of your back. They help move your arm back and toward your body — think of the motion of a pull-up. 

How to do it 

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your lower back touching a wall. Your upper back and head can touch the wall, or not — either is ok, Candy says.

2. Extend your arms 90 degrees from your body with your elbows also bent 90 degrees. Your arms should form an “L” shape, in other words.

3. Move your arms back until your fingertips touch the wall. But don’t try to force your elbows back if they don’t also touch the wall, Candy says.

4. From there, slide your fingertips up as far as you can while keeping your lower back in contact with the wall. Basically, you’re making a snow angel while standing against the wall. 

5. Hold at the top position of the movement for 5-10 seconds, then return to the starting position.

6. Repeat 5-10 times. 

2. Doorway chest stretch 

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The goal of this exercise is to improve chest muscle flexibility in the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, Candy says. 

Your pectoralis muscles run from your sternum to your upper arm bone. You use them when you bring your arms together toward the middle of your body or move them forward in a pushing motion, like when doing a bench press or a pushup.

Spending a lot of time sitting looking down — at your phone or a book, for instance — can leave these muscles in a tightened position, which contributes to rounded shoulders. 

The doorway stretch helps open your chest, allowing you to take deeper breaths and keep your shoulders aligned down and back. 

Shoulder alignment is an important part of good posture. Poor posture can cause pain, affect your balance and breathing, and increase risk of injury. 

How to do it

1. Stand facing a doorway with your arms raised and bent at 90 degree angles to form an “L.” Your palms should face forward. 

2. Rest your hands on each side of the doorway and walk forward until you feel a gentle stretch in your chest.

3. Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds but ideally 1 minute or longer, Candy says. 

4. If you can’t hold the stretch due to pain or discomfort, you’re probably stretching too far. 

3. Sleeper stretch

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This stretch lengthens the infraspinatus and teres minor muscles on the back of your shoulder. 

Stretching the posterior portion of your shoulder is important because stiffness in the area can increase the likelihood of pinching your rotator cuff muscles, Candy says.  

How to do it

1. Lie on your side on a firm surface, such as a yoga mat or a massage table. Your legs can take whatever position feels most comfortable.

2. Hold the arm underneath you straight out from your body, bending your elbow 90 degrees.

3. Place the hand of your upper arm on the back of the forearm of your lower arm.

4. Slowly move your lower arm downwards until you feel a gentle stretch. Make sure your elbow doesn’t slide while doing the movement. 

5. Hold for 30 seconds. 

6. Repeat 3 times.

4. Shoulder wall walk

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A wall walk is a gentle assisted stretch that can improve shoulder range of motion and strength. 

Healthcare professionals may recommend this stretch as part of physical therapy after surgery or an injury. You can also use it if you’d like to start stretching your shoulders very gently.

How to do it

1. With your arms shoulder-width apart, place your pinky fingers on a wall with your palms facing each other. 

2. Slowly move your hands up the wall. Both your arms and your shoulder blades should be moving upward. 

3. When your arms reach as high as you can comfortably go, hold the position for 5-10 seconds and then return to your starting position. 

4. Repeat 5-10 times.

5. Shoulder stretch with towel

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This position stretches your internal rotators, so it may have benefit if you participate in sports with a lot of overhead motions, like tennis or baseball, or if you have a job that requires a lot of reaching or lifting above shoulder height.

You might also find this stretch helpful if you have difficulty reaching behind your back to put your wallet in a pocket, clasp your bra, or wash your back, says Riley Wood, a physical therapist at SporTherapy.

How to do it

1. Place a towel over one shoulder and grasp it with your opposite hand by reaching behind your back. If the towel is over your left shoulder, you’d grab it with your right hand.

2. Once you’re holding the towel with your hand behind your back, use your free hand to grasp the top end of the towel from the front. 

3. Gently pull the towel upward from the front of your body. You should feel a stretch in the front or side of your opposite shoulder. 

4. Only pull far enough to feel a stretch. You shouldn’t feel any pain.

5. Hold this position for about 30 seconds, then repeat on your other side.

6. Do the stretch 3 times on each side.

6. Pendulum stretch

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This stretch is often used in rehab after surgery or for issues like a frozen shoulder, so you may not need it if you already have decent shoulder mobility. 

That said, if you have painful or very tight shoulders, the pendulum stretch offers a great way to loosen up the joint and improve range of motion, Wood says.

How to do it

1. Rest one arm on a surface solid enough to support it, like a table, countertop, or chair.

2. Bend over to a comfortable position, anywhere from slightly bent to 90 degrees, and let your other arm hang down at your side.

3. Move your body — not your shoulder — to make your arm move. You can try front-to-back, side-to-side, or circular motions.

4. Try doing 10 movements in each direction.

7. Arm swings

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Arm swings are a form of dynamic stretching, or stretches that involve movement instead of just holding a position. Arm swings help get your blood flowing and stretch the shoulder, chest, and back.

While arm swings may seem like a minor exercise, regularly doing them can loosen up your shoulders and may offer other health benefits. 

In a small 2015 study, 24 men with type 2 diabetes performed 30 minutes of forward and back arm swings 3 days a week for 8 weeks. At the end of the study, researchers found that participants had decreased body fat percentage, hemoglobin A1C, and LDL cholesterol, along with increased lung capacity.

How to do it 

1. Stand straight with your feet planted on the floor. Keep your head upright, but relaxed.

2. Face straight ahead and swing your arms forward and back. 

3. You can experiment with how much swing feels right, but in the study cited above, participants swung their arms about 30 degrees forward and 60 degrees back.

4. Doing them for just 1-2 minutes should help you feel some loosening in your muscles.  

Variations to try include:

• Start with your arms hanging down at your sides. Then, swing your arms up and across your body, making an “X” with your arms at the high point.
• Start with your arms pointed straight out to your sides. Then, swing them inward until they cross in front of your chest, then swing them back out.

When to get medical attention

If you have an untreated injury or chronic shoulder pain, stretching may not help. It could even make the problem worse. 

It’s always best to check in with your doctor about joint and muscle pain that:

If  your shoulder pain is accompanied by swelling, redness, or tenderness, you’ll want to make an appointment with a healthcare professional as soon as possible.

Insider’s takeaway

Your shoulders play a large part in your posture, and poor shoulder health can lead to stiffness, pain, and reduced mobility. 

Shoulder health becomes even more important as you get older, since the risk of rotator cuff tears increases with age. 

Adding some of the above shoulder stretches to your regular exercise routine could go a long way toward improving the strength and mobility of your shoulders.