Frozen & Round Shoulder

A classic result of poor posture, ROUND SHOULDERS is a common complaint of people who are dissatisfied with their posture. Most people respond to the beauty of beautiful posture, and would like to have it. We respond to beautiful carriage in someone, recognizing at some level that is speaks of power, ease, confidence and perhaps authority. A basic tenet of The Vance Stance® is that our posture is intrinsically linked to places in our body that may be in pain. How your body alignment looks is usually the cause of so much that is going wrong with our bodies.

FROZEN SHOULDER is an extreme version of tight shoulders. In some cases, you may not even look especially round at the shoulders, but the incorrect positioning and usage of the joint are still what is “freezing” you at the joint. In either case, the correction is the same: open the front of the body. Correct the back to contract correctly. Lower the shoulders into a new place. Release the neck. Lift the head. A wonderful by-product of changing your alignment to alleviate pain in this part of the body will be the new-found beauty of your posture. Clients often mention this benefit, and are happy to have given themselves the gift of the carriage of kings and queens.

Frozen shoulder can be extremely debilitating: you may complain of not being able to reach your face or teeth for care; you may not use your hands to push yourself up off the floor; and may not reach up at all to put things on a shelf, etc. Round shoulders are the end of a chain reaction up from the feet that The Vance Stance addresses and corrects.

If you are very rounded and stooped, or frozen, read and follow guidelines for Shoulder Pain first before continuing with the following exercises found in The Vance Stance book:

• Arms Behind On Railing (page 92-93), which opens the front of your chest, creating length down your arms, and flattening the upper back.
• Cross-legged Sit: Elbows Up and Out (page 132-133), which allows you to isolate the upper back muscles responsible for flattening that area.
• Head to Knee on Floor (page 134-135), which lengthens the entire back.
• If you are extremely tight at your shoulders, you are advised to follow the guidelines for Foot Pain as well.