How Pilates Helps Our Shoulders

Many students start Pilates because their doctor or physical therapist suggested Pilates to improve core strength. And guess what? Me, too. (When I asked my physical therapist if I had to do her prescribed exercises for the rest of my life, she said “yes – and you could do Pilates.”)

We come in focused on core strength. Talking about shoulders might elicit a head tilt.

Three bones work together in shoulders: collarbone, shoulder blade and arm bone.

When doing shoulder mobility exercises, students’ mental wheels start turning, and they might ask “is this right – am I doing Pilates?" or "why shoulders, I thought we were working on my core.”

The answer to both questions is yes – when you’re moving your shoulders, you are doing Pilates. That’s because when we are flexing, extending and twisting our spine, our shoulders will respond and participate in those movements. We want our shoulders to glide on our backs and work well.

When our shoulders feel tight, weak or achy, improving our shoulder mobility and strength deserves a gentle approach. When recovering from a shoulder injury or managing a painful condition such as “frozen shoulder,” we want to follow the directions of our doctors and physical therapists before continuing or beginning a new exercise program such as Pilates.

A Pilates-minded approach combines shoulder mobility and core strengthening exercises to improve body awareness and strength. In our full body Pilates exercises, we develop deep appreciation for how our shoulders move and work for us every day. 

What’s your Pilates approach to improving shoulder mobility and strength?

First, improve our observation skills: in group classes, I teach students to observe their bodies without judging them (e.g., instead of ‘that’s my bad shoulder’ we might begin to notice ‘when I lift my left arm, I feel a pinching sensation’). This is our proprioception and interoception* working together. 

Second, understand our shoulders. It’s a system of bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments that includes THREE bones: our scapula (aka “shoulder blade”), clavicle (“the collarbone”); and humerus (upper arm bone with bicep and tricep muscles). Pilates’ shoulder exercises aim to improve how we coordinate the movement of these bones.

Third, we mobilize. At first, our shoulder exercises are intentional and isolated, coordinating our breathing with shoulder blade movement. 

Fourth: Strengthen and stabilize our shoulders' rotator cuff muscles and back stabilizers -- smaller muscle groups.

Finally, we apply this awareness to full body movement, like a Pilates roll up, “ab series of five,” extension exercises such as swan, and hands-and-knees or planking exercises.

That’s how we do it.

What kind of shoulder exercises do we do in Pilates?

When thinking about shoulder movement, we want to understand at least two “planes of motion.”

Frontal Plane: Think of a “jumping jack.” That motion moves the arms up and away from the body and brings them down, next to the body. The frontal plane refers to our body in two halves, front and back. (It's also called "coronal plane.")

Sagittal Plane: Think of taking a bow – this is movement along the sagittal plane. Bowing is trunk flexion because it brings our head closer to our feet. Then picture a football referee signaling a touchdown – they raise both arms overhead. That is shoulder flexion. If we look up to see a plane in the sky – this is spinal extension in the sagittal plane. When our arms move behind us, this is also shoulder extension. 

We want to be able to move our arms up and down in both planes.

In Pilates, we do this in different body positions: standing, sitting, kneeling, lying down, lying on our sides -- and then to make it more challenging, we use a smaller surface area. That means lifting our hips or holding ourselves up with our hands and feet (i.e., planking). In advanced Pilates exercises, we are "standing" on our shoulder girdle, which requires full body integration and core muscle strength to lift and hold our legs in space.

What else do we want to understand about our shoulders when doing Pilates?

It also helps to know what’s happening in the “ball and socket” of the shoulder: internal and external rotation of the ball of the humerus.

Imagine putting on a bathrobe, folding one half of the robe across the other half, then tying a belt to hold it together. That motion uses “internal rotation” of your shoulder. 

Now bend your elbows and make “jazz hands.” Yeah, that’s “external rotation.”

Not jazz hands -- but a good example of the humerus' external rotation when lifting our arms overhead. (Art Beat Dance Center Recital, 2024)

Our shoulder mobility also depends on its foundation, the ribcage. Our breathing fills our lungs in three directions: front, side and back. When we breathe well into the backs of our body, we begin to improve the foundation for shoulder blades movement.

Give your shoulders love and attention with Pilates. If you’re curious about our mat Pilates classes at the Circle C Community Center, please complete this very short form, and we’ll (I’ll) be in touch promptly.