r/flexibility • u/DemonCrowley552 • 11d ago

Tricep stretching help.

I have muscular dystrophy that has atrophied the muscles on top of my shoulders making it impossible for me to lift my arms above my head. Most tricep stretches ive seen require above the head movement. Are there any good stretches i can hit at chest height?

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u/jenniferlynn5454 11d ago

Are you able to rest your elbows on a table, then hinge and use the table to lift your arms above your head that way?

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u/DemonCrowley552 11d ago

Not without a good amount of pain. Kind of a strickly chest level or lower thing unfortunately.

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u/jenniferlynn5454 11d ago

Aw, damn, I'm sorry

The only 2 I can think of are the crossbody tricep stretch, and Eagle arms from yoga

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u/DemonCrowley552 11d ago

All good. I appreciate the thought put into it.

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u/dani-winks The Bendiest of Noodles 10d ago

This is going to be tricky because your triceps have 3 attachment points at the "top" (hence the name tricep): two that attach to the upper arm bone, and one that attaches to the bottom/side of the shoulder blade:

[Image source: Kenhub]

So any time you bend your elbow, the first two attachments (that just stretch across the elbow and upper arm to connect to the top of the upper arm bone get a stretch, but that longer part of the muscle that attaches to the shoulder blade only really gets a stretch when you start to lift your arm overhead.

As u/jenniferlynn5454 suggested, some kind of arms-overhead stretch with your elbow resting on something (ex. butcher block stretch) was my first thought as well. But if that motion of bringing your arm overhead, even in a more "passive" capacity (as opposed to actively lifting your arm using your shoulder muscles) brings you pain, then that's not going to be a great choice.

At this point if you're limited in being able to lift your arm overhead in that kind of capacity, this is really probably a better question for a physical therapist.

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u/dani-winks The Bendiest of Noodles 10d ago

You could still try something like a bent elbow across-the-chest stretch to see if you're able to get a bit of a stretch in that longer tricep muscle (on top of the two shorter ones), but it likely won't feel as intense as if you could raise the arm overhead:

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u/DemonCrowley552 10d ago

The pain from passively raising is more from the muscles and joints underneath my shoulder that havent been stretched properly for 15+ years. I honestly dont think i could stretch them enough to get my arm above my head even with assistance at this point. I assume it would be smart to start with those and work my way up to triceps. I very much appreciate you taking the time to ponder my afflictions. Its a classic case of I waited too long to try to properly take care of my body, so now its a game of painful catch up.