Have we been stretching the shoulder incorrectly all these years?

This is not medical advice. Consult your doctor and therapist first before attempting any exercises.

I recently learned about a retired orthopedic shoulder surgeon named Dr. John Kirsch. He wrote a book titled, “Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention.” In the book he hypothesizes that our shoulder was designed for hanging, like primates hang from trees. When we stop doing this as children, we start having problems with the shoulder.

I need to write some caution and disclaimers first. This may not be the “right” stretch with severe osteoporosis, history of dislocations, recent repair, etc. Take these ideas to a professional first.

Hanging from a bar is stretching the shoulder downward in a linear motion, with lots of force/gravity from our body weight. Without this hard stretching, some of the bones grow towards soft tissue structures that start pinching, like our rotator cuff muscles. There are also some ligaments that need to be stretched by this harder force.

In rehab we typically stretch people lying down, in a rotary motion, with fare less force. I now believe the mechanics of this stretch do not best match our anatomy.

Not everyone can hang and stretch from a bar overhead. I still can’t do it after a recent shoulder injury, however I am getting closer. My shoulder is 50% better after only 2 weeks of an alternative overhead hanging motion. I start with 45 pounds on the bar, and am able to add 10 pounds with each set of 30 seconds.

Pain in your future…

The doctor advises that this can be very painful when you start, and you need to persevere. I can attest to this pain. The first day I could only hold 30% of my body weight for 5 seconds. I would rate it at 8/10 pain, (with 10/10 pain being Japanese seppuku.) After two weeks I am up to 80% body weight, and 30 seconds. He advises one 15 minute session everyday, with maybe 8-10 sets of 30 seconds. I have had such good outcomes so early, I would advocate 2 sessions of 15 minutes per day. My overall pain has dropped by 50%, and function improved 50% in two weeks.

Sharing my experience is one anecdotal story. We are supposed to have scientific and objective data. Read some of the positive reviews (800), and all the negative reviews (20ish) online, buy the book ($11) and try the protocol to decide if this will work for you.

I think the bar hanging stretch is correct, you might need these training wheels to start.