Fitness Routine to do With a Shoulder Injury

One of the more common physical injuries to get is a shoulder injury, which may 
actually be from your workouts, or for another reason. Here are some tips for creating a 
fitness routine you can do if you have a shoulder injury.

Stretch and Warm Up For Longer

If you have a shoulder injury, many exercises can cause pain if you aren’t being careful. 
Not just in the exercise itself, but how you get ready for it. Your doctor will probably tell 
you it is okay to start doing weight training and circuit training as your shoulder begins to 
heal, but if you don’t stretch it out and warm up, it could lead to more problems. Make 
sure you are giving yourself a few minutes before each workout session to warm up 
your muscles and make them more pliable, so that the moves don’t hurt as much.

Stop if Anything Hurts

It is essential that when exercising with a shoulder or any other type of physical injury, 
you pay attention to your body. If something causes you pain or is otherwise 
uncomfortable, do not just try to work through the pain. This is only going to make it 
harder to heal that shoulder. These pain signals are telling you that is something is 
wrong, so either reduce the intensity or avoid that particular move that was causing the 
pain.

Use Lighter Weights

Trainers will often recommend doing more weights and lighter weight if you have a 
shoulder injury, but you still want to continue with weight training. This doesn’t have to 
last forever, but just while your shoulder injury continues to heal. The added weight can 
put too much strain on your shoulder, even leading to an additional tear. Instead, 
choose a much lighter weight, but do some extra reps to ensure you are still getting in a 
good workout.

Focus On Your Form

Some shoulder injuries can get worse if you are weight lifting and use improper form. 
Perhaps this wasn’t as big of an issue before your injury, but now every movement is 
uncomfortable. This is when it helps to have a trainer assist you for at least a few 
sessions until you have the right form. Find the area of your gym with a mirror so you 
can see how you are lifting those weights and make sure nothing is off balance. 
