Hi, everyone! Dr. Chris Robl here with Physio Room and we have my wife, Courtney, and our youngest, Zachary, in the clinic today to talk to you a little bit about what Mom Shoulder (or Mom Posture) is and ways to treat this and prevent it from coming back.

Mom shoulder basically happens when we’re repetitively holding a baby or nursing a baby and your shoulders get ‘stuck’ in a forward or rounded posture. As your shoulder is constantly being rounded forward your rotator cuff then becomes stretched out. This leads to shoulder instability and we find that you will then start incorporating your upper trap for stability instead. In turn, we start seeing the persistent neck and shoulder pain, stiffness and strain.

So, let’s talk about a couple of drills to help you get out of this Mom Shoulder posture. You want to take a band in the hand of whichever side your irritation is on. You will want your elbow bent at 90 degrees and down to your side, shoulder blade down and set. We then want you to rotate our hand (holding the band) in an outward motion – you will go from elbow in, hand facing forward to elbow in, hand facing out from your side. You want to continue this motion until you start to get a nice little burn in the back side of your shoulder. Let’s go 3 sets of 10 reps to start and work our way up to 30 reps.

In addition to that strengthening exercise, we also want to be thinking about stretching these tight muscles out of their ‘stuck’ posture. Again, starting on the side that feels more irritated, begin by holding your arm long and straight down to your side, pulling those shoulder blades down into your back so that we’re not resting in this forward position. Use your remaining hand to slowly pull your head away from your shoulder. By doing this we are going to get a nice gentle stretch through the trap and the neck, relieving any pain and tightness caused by your Mom Posture.

If you have any questions about what we have talked about today please give us a call and, as always, if you have learned anything from today’s video, please like and share. We appreciate the support, thank you very much for everything you do for us here at Physio Room. Have a great day!