in this video i'm going to show you how to fix a high shoulder for good stay tuned hey everyone dr rowe here at spinecare in st joseph michigan so if you're dealing with a high or uneven shoulder and need a quick fix this is a video that you're not going to want to miss i'm going to show you a three-part process that is going to help level the shoulders off and the great part is they're very easy to do all of these exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home i'm going to be using two pieces of equipment the first being a racquetball and the other one a therapy band both of these i bought locally at a sporting goods department i believe the total cost was under 20 dollars combined you can also get them easily online such as at amazon but all of these motions are very easy to do they're very safe they're very effective towards helping a high shoulder so let's get started with them and fix that high shoulder for good so i'm going to go over three parts each part is very important to do to help get the best results for getting rid of that high shoulder with the first part we're going to focus on muscle knots and getting rid of tightness especially into a muscle called the trapezius or trap muscle the trapezius is responsible for lifting the shoulder up so if it's really tight it can actually cause those shoulders to become uneven let's take our racquetball i'm going to cup it like this and i'm going to go over the top portion of the shoulder the real meaty part let's press into an area that you feel is really tight like there's a muscle spasm or muscle not going just press in there and then just work at it for about 15 to 30 seconds or until it starts to release you can do this a couple times and then just switch over different spots you want to pretty much go over the whole portion of the shoulder itself but when you do this too you can lift up on the shoulder you can bring it down you can kind of twirl it too go in different ranges of motions of the shoulders to activate the muscle and really target those tight spots but again you just want to go over different spots even if the other shoulder is not having any problems there's no reason why you can't go over there and do the same thing just to keep the muscles in balance but that right there is going to help loosen everything up for this next part so let's build off that first part by now putting more range of motion into the shoulders themselves we're going to target the upper trapezius with this stretch again the top portion of the shoulder so what i'm going to do is whatever side shoulder that i'm focusing on if this one is high let's take that side's arm and go all the way across the low of the back until you can't go any further at this point you're going to feel this muscle right here on the top portion start to become activated let's take the other arm and put it on the head like this and then bend the ear towards the opposite shoulder and when you do this sometimes you will get a proper crack into the neck that is completely normal it's just gas is being released into the neck itself but you want to keep pulling until you feel a great stretch from the neck all the way down into the top of the shoulder hold this one for 15 seconds you're just going to relax and then you're going to repeat this up to five times what this is going to do again is just loosen that trapezius muscle up here and hopefully loosen it where you'll start to notice that shoulder start to be able to go down and become more even so another instigator of a high shoulder is a tight levator scapula so this one is going to focus more on the shoulder blades if one shoulder blade is you know hyped up it's going to bring that whole side up with it so this stretch is very easy what we're going to do is whatever side we're having the high shoulder let's try to bring that down as much as we can so it's like taking the hand and going reaching down towards the floor more or less until you feel a very good stretch let's take our head then and then look towards the opposite direction and then look down towards the opposite armpit i'm going to take the hand on that side and then i'm going to grab the back of the head and i'm just going to pull it down towards my armpit with this you should feel a great stretch from the neck all the way down to the shoulder blade itself only go to your comfort level hold this for 30 seconds relax and then on this next one try to reach down even further and put a little bit more pull downwards with the head until you feel a great stretch again neck to the shoulder blade do this five complete times it's really going to help around those shoulder blades and just for good measure go to the other side too just to keep both sides in balance so if we're looking to get rid of a high shoulder we have to focus on strengthening the muscles around the shoulder and shoulder blades itself that way we have a stronger support system so what i'm going to start off with is what is known as a scapular push-up it's going to help bring the shoulder blade down on the high side let's sit on the floor legs straight i'm going to take a rolled up bath towel and put it off to the side of the high shoulder let's take our hands and place the high sides hand over the towel the other one just goes on the floor what i'm going to do is i'm going to use my upper body weight to press downwards into my hand so it should feel like all of my weight is going into my palms right here when you do this try to press down into the towel as much as you're able to you should feel the shoulder blade muscles on the high side really start to fire only go to your comfort level hold this for 30 seconds you're just going to relax then and then you're going to repeat this up to 5 times it's just a great way to build strength to press down and hopefully bring everything down with it uh including the shoulder and the shoulder blade itself give that one a try this next exercise for a high shoulder i like to do this one at the edge of a bed i'm going to position myself where i'm laying on my stomach and from the elbows down are going to be able to hang off the bed itself from here what i'm going to do is lift my arms up as much as i can when you do this you're going to feel the upper back and the shoulder blade region start to tighten up and contract hold this for about 10 to 15 seconds you're just going to relax and then you're going to do this again try to bring them up a little bit further and do this three complete times the second part of this and this is how we're going to target that high shoulder is go back into that position of lifting the arms up but let's try to bring the shoulder blade on that side down as much as we're able to while we lift the arms up you're really going to feel a very good amount of contraction in and around the shoulder and shoulder blade region hold this up to 30 seconds if you're able to you're just going to relax you're going to then repeat try to bring that shoulder blade down just a little bit further if you're able to and then do that five complete times great exercise so this next exercise is probably my favorite for a high or uneven shoulder what i'm going to do is sit in a chair with good upright posture i'm going to take my therapy band i'm going to place it underneath my feet just like this let's crisscross the arms and grab the ends right here where my palms are going to be facing down towards the floor put our knees together and with this movement i'm going to try to engage through my shoulder blades while lifting up straight with my arms do not try to shrug the shoulders with this it should feel like you really have a good amount of control through the shoulder blades and firing those muscles keep lifting up as far as you're able to go hold this for about 10 seconds you're just going to relax and then you're going to try to do this for 10 complete repetitions this is a great exercise because it's going to fire and work on so many muscles that are responsible for keeping the shoulders healthy and in balance so if you liked the video and it helped you please show us your support by giving this video a like and maybe subscribing to our channel too if you have any comments or questions please leave them below i'll get back to you as soon as i can thanks for watching