Exercises You Can Do At Home
The exercises Dr. Dave Kashuba talks through on Pain 2 Power, written down. A chair, a step stool and a resistance band cover almost all of it.
Read this first. These are general exercises, not a treatment plan and not medical advice. Nothing here should hurt. If an exercise causes pain, swelling or warmth in the joint, stop and call us. If you are recovering from surgery or an injury, follow the protocol your surgeon and therapist gave you instead of this page, and check with them before adding anything. When you want a program built for your body, that is what an evaluation is for: call 561-624-4263.
Shoulder & Upper Back
Dave's at-home shoulder set. Most of what we do all day pulls the shoulders forward and inward, so this works the other direction.
Wall slides
Stand facing a wall with a towel between your forearms and the wall. Start with both arms bent at 90 degrees in front of you, then slide them all the way up the wall and back down.
Approximates the humerus and stabilizes the subscapularis while it stretches. Dave uses the wall version because it is the same idea as a downward dog without asking a 90 year old to get down on the floor.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Cross-body stretch
Take your right elbow in your left hand and draw that arm across your body. Hold, then switch sides.
Stretches the posterior capsule at the back of the shoulder.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Shoulder shrugs
Bring both shoulders straight up toward your ears, then let them down.
Simple, and it keeps the whole shoulder girdle moving.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Scapular retractions
Draw both shoulders back and try to touch your shoulder blades together behind you.
Works directly against the forward, rounded posture that daily life builds in.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Band rows and extensions
Anchor a resistance band and pull backward, elbows past your ribs. Then work extensions, drawing the arm behind you.
Dave's reasoning: everything we do all day is internal rotation, so pulling the other way is the correction. Water bottles work as a substitute, but a proper therapy band is better.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Knee
Strong muscles around the knee mean fewer symptoms. All you need is a chair and a small step stool.
Seated leg extensions
Sit and scoot to the front edge of a chair. Straighten one leg out in front of you, then lower it.
Strengthens the quadriceps, including the vastus medialis on the inside of the knee that tracks the kneecap.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 6
Standing heel to buttock
Hold the back of a chair and stand tall. Bring one heel up toward your backside, as far as it goes comfortably. One leg at a time.
Works the hamstring through range. Dave's note: doing both legs at once is how you end up on the floor.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 6
Pillow sit to stands
Hold a light pillow in both hands out in front of you. Push the pillow forward as you stand, keep it forward as you sit back down.
The pillow makes you hinge at the hip. Whatever joint starts the movement takes the brunt of the load, and hips carry weight better than knees do.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 6
Step stool leans
Put one foot up on a low step stool, keep the other on the floor, and hold something stable. Lean your weight forward over the raised foot, then back. No stepping up.
Loads the knee through a small, safe range without impact.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 6
Glute bridge
Lie on your back with your knees bent and both feet flat on the floor or the bed. Lift your hips up, pause at the top and squeeze your backside, then lower.
The glutes support the knee from above. Dave pairs this with quad work rather than doing either alone.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 7
Hip & Pelvis
Behind most painful hips is a weak gluteus medius, the muscle that keeps your pelvis level while you stand on one leg.
Banded sit to stands
Loop a resistance band around both legs just above the knees. Stand up and sit down as normal, letting the band push your knees outward.
A sore hip makes you shift weight onto the good leg without noticing. The band forces both sides to share the work.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 10
Standing leg abductions
Hold the back of a chair and kick one leg out away from your midline, keeping it straight. Lower with control.
Direct work for the gluteus medius.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 10
Clams
Lie on your side with knees bent and stacked. Keep your feet together and open the top knee like a clam shell.
Strengthens the external rotators, which are weak in almost everyone because nothing in daily life asks for them.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 10
Side lying leg raise
Lie on your side and raise the top leg straight up, then lower it slowly.
Supports the same muscles from a different angle.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 10
Prone press up
Lie face down and push up onto your forearms or hands, keeping your pelvis down on the floor.
Opens the front of the hip. Before you get down on the floor, make sure you can get back up.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 10
Everyday Movement
Dave's view: the invention of the chair is one of our demise. These are not workouts, they are the baseline.
Walk
Get up and walk. Start at three minutes a day if that is where you are, and work up toward 10 or 15.
Gets blood moving, helps clear swelling and lowers a long list of risks. Good for the back and the knees at the same time.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Sit to stands
Stand up out of a chair and sit back down, without pushing off with your hands if you can manage it.
The single most functional movement most people stop practising.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Put the phone down
Set it aside and stand up. Dave's whole point is that the movement you already know how to do is the one that gets skipped.
Forward head and shoulder posture is partly gravity and partly how long we sit still.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Stretch before you start the day
Dave's observation: babies stretch when they wake, dogs and cats stretch before they do anything, and we reach for glasses and coffee and go to work.
Costs nothing and sets up everything else on this page.
Heard on Pain 2 Power, Episode 8
Not sure which of these applies to you, or whether you should be doing them at all? A one on one evaluation answers that in a single visit. Call 561-624-4263 or request an appointment. You can also read how we structure physical therapy and our wellness program, or hear these exercises explained on the Pain 2 Power podcast.
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