Shoulder Circles

How to Perform

• The patient is side lying with the hips and knees flexed to approximately 60 degrees and the arms straight out in front.
• The top arm is taken around in a circle overhead keeping the elbow straight and the hand in contact with the floor.
• The patient is instructed to keep the knees together, but is encouraged to rotate through the thoracic spine and rib cage.

Interpretation and the most common dysfunctional patterns seen
Normally the patient should be able to keep the hand in contact with the floor with the elbow straight as they circle the hand around a full 360 degrees.

Notice in the patient above, the restriction for the left versus the right shoulder circle. This restriction is indicative of a loss of thoracic and rib cage mobility for left rotation and limits ER of the left shoulder.

Note: This patient presents with a loss of IR of the R shoulder and ER of the left shoulder secondary to a loss of left rotation of the thoracic spine and rib cage!