Ear to Shoulder Stretch

All-Levels
Written By Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Flexopedia > Shoulders & Neck

Ear to Shoulder Stretch

Muscle Group(s) Stretched: Shoulders, neck

Muscle Group(s) Strengthened: n/a

Type of Stretch: Passive Static

Difficulty: All-Levels

Suggested Prerequisites: none

Aside from helping with shoulder and neck flexibility, this is just a nice feel-good stretch to throw in if you tend to have slouchy posture or habitually hike your shoulders up towards your ears.

How To

Step 1

Extend one arm down by your side, actively reaching down with your hand to help pull your shoulder blade down your back (you can do this with a flat palm by pressing your palm down, but if that gives you finger tingles, flatten your wrist and reach your fingertips down, or make a fist and punch your knuckles down).

Step 2

Continuing to actively reach your hand towards the floor, tilt your head to the opposite shoulder, feeling a stretch in the side of your neck. You can experiment with trying to adjust the angle of the “reaching arm” and your body, trying it with the arm super close to your side, a little farther away from your side, or starting to lift away from your side body so it’s closer to 45 degrees (or farther away) from your side body.

Hold this stretch for 20-30 seconds.

Modifications

Need to make it easier?

Lean your head less. Keep it gentle!

Keep your wrist neutral. Instead of pushing your flat palm, keep your palm facing your side and reach with your fingertips (this makes it less intense on some of the nerves that run through our shoulder)

Want to make it harder?

Place a hand on the side of your head to add some bodyweight to the stretch. There’s no need to press with the hand, simply letting the weight of your free arm sink into your head will pull your neck into a deeper stretch.

Add some arm/shoulder rotations. Keeping your “reaching arm” straight, rotate your palm away in one direction, and then the other, rotating from the upper arm and shoulder (as if an axis was going through your entire arm). You might notice a differently rotated position feels like a more challenging stretch!

 
 
Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Dani is a Minneapolis-based flexibility coach and professional contortionist who loves sharing her enthusiasm for flexibility training with the world.

https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com
Previous

Half Split Hip Unsquare-to-Square Slides
Next

Back Extensions with Block Lift