Fix your Shoulders Without Surgery: Easy Method to Relieve Shoulder & Back Pain

A high value series of exercises that might save you from injury/surgery and relieve shoulder/upper back pain while getting your joints stronger & healthier

Shoulder Health & Concerns With Treatment

You’re born with one pair of shoulders and as much as surgeons might tell you they can replace them if need be – it’s not true. Surgery in the majority of cases leaves the patient more crippled than before in the long term by only alleviating immediate discomfort and troubles at the moment. While there are places where surgeries might be necessary in the case of shoulder pain, which is extremely common especially in athletes - baseball, football, striking sports, etc - it is most likely that surgery is completely unnecessary unless you have some catastrophic injury that requires in-depth reconstructive procedures. (Which is not you if you are just getting some shoulder tenderness & pinching/discomfort)

Shoulder pain can express itself as a sensation of pinching, soreness, a feeling of instability or aggravating discomfort anywhere from the front or side of the deltoid, clavicle, or upper back - including even the base of the neck. While it’s common athletes and weightlifters to injure a shoulder due to contact injuries, it is most common that athletes and manual laborers develop chronic shoulder pain due to postural issues and common training catalysts for these issues. (Weak backs / shoulder complex coupled with aggressive bench pressing is a very common culprit, of course.)

(It should be noted that “posture” in my vocabulary doesn’t refer to the “way you hold yourself” but rather the strength of the muscles and joints that hold you up, regardless of how you choose to hold yourself while standing and sitting.)

It is also in the case where shoulder degradation occurs in the majority of the general population as they age due to neglect. Like other qualities and parts of the body we discuss in this resource frequently, the shoulders need a health & hygiene practice so that you retain your tissue health throughout your lifespan and can engage in athletic pursuits without concern.

Typical shoulder issues and upper back pain come from 3 main areas:

A) The shoulder joint itself

B) The upper back/thoracic spine

C) The neck

As well as potential contribution up or downstream from the Lats or Pectorals.

We will address some general solutions that you can use to take care of each of these areas within your fitness regimen.

Dr John Kirsch & Avoiding 99% of Surgeries

A book written by Dr. John M Kirsch titled “Shoulder Pain? The Solution & Prevention”, detailed in orthopedic surgeons discoveries and methods based on a 30+ year career in treating shoulder injuries and chronic problems. Kirsch claims that the overwhelming majority of shoulder surgeries could have been & could be avoided through a few practices and one major one in particular, called “dead hanging”.

He details that the majority of his patients did not need any type of surgical procedure and could improve the status of common shoulder impingements, poor upper body posture, “Frozen shoulder“ syndrome, mobility issues and preventing rotator cuff tears (which happen gradually in the vast majority of the population as they allow their upper backs to degrade - avoid this).

His book provides plenty of CT scans and testimonials from his patients as well.

The book was terribly marketed and I’m not sure how successful it is however I am going to provide you the majority of its insight very succinctly here in actionable advice that you can start using today to improve the athletic capacity of your spine and shoulders and improve your long-term orthopedic health.

In addition, we will go over a complete series for taking care of your shoulders beyond the Kirsch method (which is the most gentle) to the more advanced and hard hitting problem solvers.

Function + Immediate & Long Term Benefits

A “dead hang“ is simply hanging from a bar or object gripped by your hands and allowing your pelvis to “drop“ and holding yourself in a position where gravity is decompressing the joints and spinal tissue while you engage as minimal effort as possible to be pulling yourself up.

The position in a dead hang rotates the scapula upward and pulls on every tissue from the wrists to your ankles. This provides several benefits I will summarize here:

• Stretches and mobilizes the brachial artery which provides blood flow and nutrients to the arm and through the shoulders - this means there is potential that dead hanging may improve recovery in upper body training

• Specifically stretches and “frees“ the supraspinatus tendon, which is the most commonly injured and destroyed part of the shoulder joint. This tendon is typically what is impinged under your “shoulder acromion“ whenever people have tendon issues and is responsible for raising your shoulders up and down. The dead hang not only frees this commonly crushed tendon and gives it room to move properly but also mobilizes it through full range of motion and allows it to *reshape and remodel the shoulder joint* so that it can move the way it was intended to and be resistant to injury and aging.

• Upwardly rotates the scapula as well as pulls and creates space in the shoulder joint where compressive mechanisms such as inwardly rotating the shoulder joint may cause pinching, inflammation, and other tendinopathies. This means that you will literally make more space in the shoulder where you have probably compressed and damaged tissue so it can heal and move better. (95% of us have some form of this from both activity & inactivity - ie sitting)

• You will also decompress spinal tissue which could help improve spinal health and heal bulging or herniated discs. While compression of these tissues is also good to build strength - decompression of these tissues is good to improve their recovery from training.

• The hanging position is also good for healthy stretching & mobilization of the lats and pectoral muscles which are frequently trained very heavily and commonly become overly tight due to peoples sleeping and sitting positions. (This will also indirectly lead to lower rates of upper body injury, especially in the shoulder)

• Depending on how intense you choose to make the hang, it will also test your grip strength which you are using to hold onto the bar, along with improving the strength of the rotator cuff in your upper back which is stabilizing your scapula. (more on how to enhance this effect below, if desired)

In my personal experience with using dead hangs + the following shoulder exercises over the past 10 years, I have found almost no other practice that has made my orthopedic health so quickly and easily feel an immediate visceral improvement.

Note: Dead hangs work well for grip isometric training & lengthening the musculature around the shoulder girdle - but without a proper shoulder *strength* approach the effect will not last and hanging will simply work almost like a dependent therapy rather than a “cure”. They work well for shoulder irritation & impingement but DO NOT work well for shoulders struggling with dislocation issues and should instead be avoided in that case.

Dead Hangs and How to Use Them

To begin implementing them you simply hang from any bar you can do pull ups from. You can grip the bar ideally with a pronated position, i.e. your palms facing away from you. This will put the shoulder is in the least compromised position for decompression.

Like every exercise I advocate for you should have both regressions and progressions for increasing your capacity and their benefit overtime. In their simplest form, a dead hang can be done from a bar with the feet still touching the ground in order to lessen the demand on your grip. This will allow you to hang for longer than you would otherwise and gently allow gravity to reverse the stress it has put on your body throughout the rest of the day.

If you are leaving your feet on the floor you can progressively increase the exercise by “dropping your pelvis“ further and further and thus placing more and more of the tension on your hands holding you up rather than your legs.

If you are comfortable with this and have the prerequisite grip strength you can increase the stretch by taking your feet off of the ground and simply hanging from the bar freely. Remembering to relax as much as you can and think about “dropping your pelvis” and allowing it to just hang will ensure the most positive benefit.

*It is important that you relax to create a “dead hang” so that the tissues can decompress appropriately and your shoulder tissue can strengthen and remodel.* see below for a “dead” hang vs “active” hang

Another option if grip strength is an issue is to use weight lifting straps on the pull up bar to allow you to grip it for far longer while still allowing a “free bodyweight hang”.

You should feel a slowly increasing freedom in your shoulders and back that increases the longer you hang and you may even hear a few relieving pops or cracks. (Don’t worry)

The beauty of using the dead hang is it doesn’t damagingly stress the body in almost any way and only provides relief and recovery benefits.

Below I will detail a few protocols to use in different situations that you can begin implementing today:

Morning routine

This can be done every morning when you wake up if possible and will allow you to start the day with better posture and mobility which might prevent further movement patterns that could be causing shoulder or back problems in the first place. It will certainly allow you to work throughout your day more comfortably and with less pain.

If a pull-up bar is available in your home or you go to the gym in the morning, I would recommend one to two minutes of dead hangs when you wake up along with 30 seconds to a minute of hanging with your feet on the floor behind you and again with your feet on the floor in front of you heels on the ground.

Most find tremendous relief when beginning their day like this. It can be done every day for about as much as you’d like and it would be very difficult to overdo it.

Gym Warmup or Cool Down

Before upper body or lower body training sessions you can set your body in place prior by hanging for an accumulated 2-3 minutes. (This means you can do it has three 1-minute sets, One long 3-minute set, etc.)

This will get your shoulders and upper back set and prepared to move properly and bear the stress of training in the session better.

I might also advise to end training sessions with a dead hang as well to alleviate compression that may have accumulated during the training session itself. I would advise a 2 to 5 minute accumulation of hanging after heavy training if it included highly compressive exercises such as bench/overhead press, deadlifts, squats, etc.

If possible, this would also be wise practice to implement before or after other physical activities as well if you have a manual labor job or or a baseball player or grappler etc.

Bonus: Getting Stronger with Dead Hangs

Another option that I might recommend doing on its own or ending training sessions with would be to use weighted dead hangs to improve isometric grip strength.

Note: you may not be at the point where adding weight would be necessary in order to develop your strength - but adding weight to progress this protocol could be beneficial once needed.

Dead Hang Grip Routine:

2 - 4 sets of 20-30 second holds

1x per week @ the end of a training session or on its own

Each set should end with a challenging feeling like your grip is close to truly giving out BUT you aren’t going to fall. Should feel like a 7-9 out of 10 difficulty on the hands.

Add weight with a weight belt or dumbbell between the feet as needed to increase challenge.

*this will tax your grip which you may need for other exercises and training during the week. So plan accordingly and do at the end of sessions where grip is necessary or when you will have 2+ days of rest before training your hands again.

Shoulder Exercises to Develop Lasting Strength In Addition to Dead Hanging

Dead hangs provide the aforementioned benefits & can pave the opportunity to finally move your shoulder through its full range of motion without as much restriction.

It can also expose areas that are weak or lack appropriate length or range and thus works well as a test for shoulder health as well as a gateway for rehab.

However, this again is not the cure all. For true lasting improvement in your shoulder health, your shoulders must be strengthened with progressively overloaded resistance exercises in addition to being lengthened with dead hangs.

The following exercises, if can be done safely, should be both executed with strict form & with intention of slowly increasing the weight and repetitions used as long as strict form/rep quality is maintained.

Ring/TRX Inverted Rows - These should be performed through an absolute full range of motion letting the shoulders and back “Round“ at the bottom with palms facing your feet. Then pulled so that the elbows are behind your back and to your sides with shoulder blades squeezed together. Scapula should be moving fully and your upper back should be the focus of the contraction.

2-3 sets of 10-15 reps works well.

Shoulder External Rotations - These should be performed with slow controlled reps through a full range of motion as displayed. Focus on strict control and making sure you use the external rotators (teres minor/infraspinatus) to lift the weight and not anything else. Progressively getting stronger on this exercise *with honest, strict form* (this will happen slowly) is a massive game changer for shoulder health for almost anyone.

2-3 sets of 8-20 slow & highly controlled reps is good.

Trap raise - the lower traps often get neglected & are surprisingly weak for many. For some, even just performing this exercise with their fists alone (no weight) is challenging if form is kept strict. This helps maintain your ability to pull the scapula down when needed - critical for shoulder health & being able to train safely over the long term.

Pull-ups - Yes, pull ups. Pull ups are underrated as an upper back exercise. Truthfully, they essentially allow you to fully compliment the dead hang. While the isomeric hold of the dead hang has its own benefits, the pull ups allow you to actually contract and hold the other ranges of the upper back and shoulders if performed with the correct mental intent. (When pull ups are causing pain during the “lifting up” portion of the exercise there is usually an issue with the way the scapula is moving and is thus informative regarding shoulder pain)

“Pull with the lats first” & hold the top position (with upper back squeezed) for at least 1 second before beginning another rep.

2-3 sets of 6-12 reps

Closing thoughts

Like everything else we talk about you need to use and take care of the body you have. It WILL fall apart if you don’t care for it.

The above exercises should be staples added to your regular fitness routine. MOST shoulder nags are improved with interventions like this however if you have a specific issue that is not helped by this you would need more individualized help. Of course, do not train through pain and be sure you are executing the movements properly.

Exercises listed above can be performed 1-2x per week.

Dead hangs in particular are a blessing that it is so simple and easy to get so much benefit to our joint health. Dead hangs are a staple in my health care fitness practices and I hope you find benefit in them as well. Beyond what we covered in the basics today, there are advanced variations of dead hangs that can begin to be implemented to get stronger and increase their benefits or provide some unique special benefits with different set ups and approaches. This will be covered in the near future.

For now, let me know if you have any questions and hopefully this helps you fix your shoulder and upper back issues.

Disclaimer: Not medical advice. Consult physician before taking any advice here. Avoid practice if at any risk or feels it is causing harm.