Should I Stretch My Shoulder if it Hurts?

Intuitively, you would think, “Oh, it’s tight.”

The human shoulder is different. Most of its problems are the source of stress. The system is overly stressed. Why is it stressed? Most of the time, it’s due to rotator cuff pathology or instability. That causes some sliding of the ball and socket, which stretching can make it worse.

You need to build up strength and stability now. Sometimes, you need to stretch certain parts of the shoulder in certain ways to restore motion and get everything gliding. But often, if you just have shoulder pain and you try to stretch it out on your own, it’ll make it worse.

The first thing you want to figure out the problems is to come in and see a shoulder specialist and get an X-ray. Have us figure out what the deal is and then we can figure out how to treat it most effectively. But if you try to just do this on your own, you will be shooting in the dark.