Shoulder Clock

Why do this?

This exercise benefits upper spinal, or thoracic, alignment. It reinforces pelvic alignment when you do it after the Pelvic Clock exercise, increases flexibility and range of motion in upper back and neck and reduces tension and stress in the upper back and neck. This exercise is great for fine tuning the shoulders.

What it does for me: Both the Shoulder Clock and the Pelvic Clock are great body awareness exercises. The more you do each of these very subtle moves, the more you will come to know “where” and “how” you are. Like the Pelvic Clock, I do the Shoulder Clock before and after I ride to align and/or realign my upper spine.

Can be done prone on back with knees bent and feet on the floor, sitting or standing.

Breathe - inhale through your breastbone and exhale through bottom of your shoulders.

Encourage neutral, not arched, spine.

Lock your pelvis by pulling belly button towards your spine.

Go for symmetrical range of motion.

Imagine there is a clock in the center of one of your shoulder blades with the long hand tip, 12 o’clock, at the base of your clavicle and the short hand tip, 6 o’ clock, at the bottom center of your blade. Imagine that the tips of each hand rock gently in and out, back and forth, from the base of your clavicle to the bottom of your blade.

Again, just as with the Pelvic Clock, think of the motion as being that of a teeter-totter. One tip goes down as the other tip comes up. The motion is gentle and unforced. It does not matter how high or low the tips rock back and forth into your back. If one place or the other is more stiff or less flexible, allow the stiffer, less flexible place or side to dictate the range of motion. Strive for equal pivoting by encouraging top to bottom body symmetry. The motion range on the stiff side will, without being forced, loosen and gain range as you keep doing this exercise regularly.

Repeat the top to bottom motion 15 times.

Move the clock hands to correspond to the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions. The tips will “touch” the horizontal plane of the inner most part of your shoulder blades. Imagine that the tips of the two clock hands gently rock in and out and back and forth from side to side.

Repeat the side to side motion 15 times.

Once you are able to move evenly and smoothly from top to bottom and side to side, move the hands of the clock all the way around your shoulder region. Do 15 repetitions at each “number” of your clock.

Switch to the opposite shoulder blade and repeat.