When Parkinson’s makes you feel stiff and causes your posture to stoop forward, a cascade of problems occurs, leading to pain and mobility issues. Routinely encouraging your shoulders, shoulder blades, and spine to move is crucial to counteracting the stooped posture and associated pain that are common in Parkinson’s disease.
Reaching overhead and swinging your arms out to the side is a complex movement, requiring the coordination of multiple parts of your skeleton. Your shoulder blades (scapula) and arm bones (humerus) must work together in a simultaneous, synchronized pattern.
If you have a stooped posture, your shoulder blades can’t sit or glide normally on the ribs, causing pain in your upper back and shoulders.
The “Pendulum Stick Stretch” exercise is great for stretching your shoulders and upper back and regaining valuable range of motion.
Check out this video to see how to do the Pendulum Stick Stretch for Parkinson’s Stooped Posture:
- Start by standing or sitting up tall, holding the stick horizontally with palms toward your body. Make sure your feet are wider than hip-width apart.
- On an exhale, swing the stick to the side, gently pushing with the low arm to encourage the high arm to go a little higher. Hold, then gently and slowly swing to the other side.
- Try to increase your stretch with pain-free pendulum motion. Feeling the stretch is fine, but pain should be minimal. Don’t contort your body to get more range.
- Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times.
Add this to the basic stick stretch listed below. This is a great stretch either before your workout or at the end as a cool-down. Stay tuned for other stick stretches!
💜 Coach Kimberly
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