Arm Up Rotator Stretch
Description
The arm-up rotator cuff stretch is a flexibility exercise where one arm reaches up and behind your head while the other arm reaches up your back from below. The hands meet behind the back, stretching the rotator cuff and improving overhead and behind-the-back shoulder mobility. A towel can be used to assist if your hands cannot meet.
Muscle Group
Equipment Required
Arm Up Rotator Stretch Instructions
- Stand or sit tall. Reach your right arm straight up overhead.
- Bend your right elbow, letting your right hand drop down between your shoulder blades.
- Reach your left arm behind your back and bend the elbow, reaching up between your shoulder blades.
- Try to clasp the fingers of both hands together behind your back.
- If your hands cannot meet, hold a towel between them and gradually walk your hands closer together over time.
- Feel the stretch through both shoulders, the right tricep, and the left rotator cuff.
- Hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Breathe deeply.
- Switch arm positions and repeat.
Arm Up Rotator Stretch Form & Visual
Arm Up Rotator Stretch Benefits
- Stretches the rotator cuff and shoulder capsule
- Improves overhead shoulder mobility
- Improves behind-the-back shoulder mobility (internal rotation)
- Reveals left-right shoulder mobility imbalances
- No equipment needed (towel optional)
- Useful for improving back-scratching mobility
Arm Up Rotator Stretch Muscles Worked
- Rotator cuff muscles (infraspinatus, teres minor, supraspinatus, subscapularis)
- Triceps brachii (top arm)
- Deltoids
- Latissimus dorsi (bottom arm)
Arm Up Rotator Stretch Variations & Alternatives
- Triceps Stretch
- Above-Head Chest Stretch
- Cow Face Pose Arms (yoga version)
- Towel-Assisted Behind-the-Back Stretch
- Sleeper Stretch (lying internal rotation)
