functional exercise: supraspinatus stretch

yoga book / functional exercises / supraspinatus-dehnung

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last modified: 2.6.2025
Level: A

Classification

Functional exercise

Contraindication

In the case of severe rotator cuff lesions, the tensile force with which the tendon of the supraspinatus may be loaded should be clarified beforehand.

Effects

(536) Stretching the supraspinatus
(537) Strengthening the supraspinatus

Instructions

  1. Stand upright or sit with your upper body upright and grasp the opposite elbows behind your body with your hands.
  2. Pull the upper arms in the shoulder joints outwards, away from the centre of the body, as far as the grip strength of the arms allows.

Details

  1. Not everyone can grip their elbows with the opposite hand behind their body. Restricted mobility of the shoulder joint can prevent this. Thicker clothing makes this even more difficult. Alternatively, you can clasp your hands behind your body (see the corresponding variation) and then move your upper arms outwards in the shoulder joints. This version has the disadvantage that the effect on the supraspinatus depends on the strength and strength endurance of the triceps, but on the other hand has the advantage that the upper arms enter a true lateral adduction, which means better stretching for the supraspinatus. The endorotated position of the arms means that the posterior part of the supraspinatus, which is slightly exorotatory, is also well stretched.
  2. Depending on the tone of the finger flexors, the grip around the upper arms can easily cause them to tense up. In this case, the variation with clasped hands is ideal.
  3. The shoulder blades remain depressed.

with clasped hands

Instructions

  1. Instead of trying to grasp the upper arms with the opposite hands, clasp your hands, extend the elbow joints and pull the upper arms outwards in the shoulder joints.

Details

  1. This arm position can be found in variations of some standing forward bends such as uttanasana and prasarita padottanasana, but without the focus on moving the arms forcefully away from each other. The focus here is on further retroversion, which can already be done in accordance with gravity if you have good flexibility. It can also be found in a variation of setu bandha sarvangasana, where the focus is also on retroverting the arms further, in this case against the spine offered by the floor and with the aim of straightening the upper thoracic spine further in the direction of the vertical, i.e. promoting extension of the thoracic spine. If these variations are practised regularly, there should soon no longer be a lack of flexibility in the supraspinatus, which is rarely an issue anyway.
  2. Much more important than the stretching ability of this muscle is the fact that regular training prevents the degeneration of this muscle and, more importantly, its tendon. This tendon is particularly susceptible because it lies against the humeral head for a significant part of its course, which worsens its supply situation and significantly increases its tendency to degeneration. This tendon is therefore the tendon that is usually affected first in a rotator cuff lesion.
  3. As a dynamic version, the arms can be repeatedly flexed and extended while maintaining effort for lateral abduction in the shoulder joint. This provides an interesting interplay between the main agonists supraspinatus and triceps.