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Pendulum-Swing Exercise for the Shoulder
If you have pain in your back, do not do this exercise.
- While holding onto a table or the back of a chair with your good arm, bend forward a little and let your injured arm hang straight down.
- This exercise does not use the arm muscles. Rather, use your legs and your hips to create movement that makes your arm swing freely.
- Using the momentum from your hips and legs, guide the slightly swinging arm back and forth like a pendulum (or elephant trunk), then in circles that start small (about the size of a dinner plate) and gradually grow larger each day as pain allows.
- Do this exercise for 5 minutes, 5 to 7 times each day even while your shoulder is still tender from an injury or surgery.
- As you have less pain, try bending over a little farther to do this exercise. This will increase the amount of movement at your shoulder.
Current as of: October 6, 2021
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine & Timothy Bhattacharyya MD - Orthopaedic Surgery, Orthopaedic Trauma
