Try your first set
A walk through using fisiolike once: read one drill, get ready, film one set or type it in, say how much it hurt, and save it. No account needed.
You have saved a set with this guide on this device before ().
This is help using the tool. It is not a rehab program, and it does not tell you whether a drill suits you, your shoulder or your injury. It shows the steps of logging one set, using one drill from the library as an example.
If a physiotherapist or doctor has given you a plan, follow theirs. fisiolike cannot examine you and does not diagnose anything.
Warning signs: see a clinician first
Do not start, or stop, if any of these apply to you:
- The pain started with a fall, a dislocation, or a sudden pop or tear, and you cannot lift the arm since.
- Numbness, tingling or pins and needles running down the arm or into the hand.
- Weakness that is getting worse, or the arm suddenly much weaker than the other.
- Pain that wakes you at night and does not ease when you change position.
- Swelling, redness, heat or a fever with the pain.
- Pain in the chest, jaw or left arm with breathlessness or sweating — call emergency services.
- A visible lump, change in shape, or the shoulder looking different from the other.
These are general reasons to have a shoulder examined. They are not a complete list.
What happens
- Read the example drill — the wall slide, which needs only a wall — or choose another from the library.
- Get ready: where to put the phone, and your pain right now if you want to record it.
- Do one set and film it, or type in what you did.
- Say how much it hurt, and save the set.
- See what the pain rule says, and where the set is kept.
The video never leaves this device. Signed out, the set is saved in this browser; an account is offered at the end, and is optional.
The drill
The wall slide is the example because it needs only a wall and the camera can count it. It is one drill from the library, not a routine, and it may not suit every shoulder or injury. Any drill in the library works with this guide.
Relaxed hang
Hang from a bar with straight arms and let the shoulders go up.
- Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders. Use a box so you can step down at any moment.
- Take your feet off the box and hang with straight arms, letting the shoulders rise towards your ears.
- Breathe normally. Step back onto the box before your grip fails, not after.
Easier: Hang with your feet on the floor or a box, taking only part of your weight through the arms.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 10–30 s, resting 60 seconds between sets. Keep some toes on the box to take weight off if a full hang hurts.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
Active hang
From a relaxed hang, draw the shoulders down away from the ears and hold, arms still straight.
- Start in a relaxed hang for a breath or two.
- Without bending your elbows, pull your shoulders down away from your ears. Your body rises a few centimetres.
- Hold that position. Breathe. Lower back to the relaxed hang with control before stepping down.
Easier: Feet on a box, taking some of the weight while you practise the shoulder movement.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 10–20 s, resting 60 seconds between sets.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
Scapular pull-up
Repeat the active hang as reps: shoulders down, pause, back up to a relaxed hang.
- Hang with straight arms.
- Pull the shoulders down so the body rises a few centimetres. Keep the elbows straight.
- Pause for a second at the top.
- Lower slowly back to the relaxed hang. That is one.
Easier: Feet on a box, taking some of the weight.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 5–10, resting 75 seconds between sets. One-second pause at the top of each.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
Band pull-apart
Hold a light band at shoulder height with straight arms and pull it apart to your chest.
- Stand holding a light band in both hands, arms straight in front of you at shoulder height, hands about shoulder width apart.
- Pull the band apart by moving the hands out to the sides until it touches your chest.
- Return slowly to the start.
Easier: A lighter band, or hands further apart on the band.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 12–15, resting 45 seconds between sets.
You need a light resistance band. Full instructions.
Wall slide
Forearms on a wall, slide them up as far as is comfortable while keeping the shoulders down.
- Stand facing a wall with your forearms on it, elbows at shoulder height, a little in front of your feet.
- Push gently into the wall and slide your forearms up it, as far as is comfortable.
- Lift the forearms a centimetre off the wall at the top, then slide back down.
Easier: Stop at the height where it is still comfortable.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 8–10, resting 45 seconds between sets.
You need a wall. Full instructions.
Band external rotation
Elbow tucked at your side, turn the forearm out against a light band.
- Tie a light band at elbow height. Stand side-on to it with the working arm furthest away.
- Elbow bent to a right angle and tucked against your side — a rolled towel between elbow and ribs helps.
- Turn the forearm outwards, away from your belly, keeping the elbow at your side.
- Return slowly.
Easier: No band: lie on your side and do the same movement with no weight.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 12–15, resting 45 seconds between sets. Each side.
You need a light resistance band. Full instructions.
Prone Y raise
Lying face down, thumbs up, lift straight arms in a Y shape.
- Lie face down on a bench or the floor, forehead on a towel, arms reaching overhead in a Y with the thumbs pointing up.
- Draw the shoulder blades slightly down, then lift both arms a few centimetres.
- Hold for two seconds and lower.
Easier: Arms in a T (out to the sides) rather than a Y.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 8–12, resting 45 seconds between sets. Two-second hold at the top.
You need a bench or floor space. Full instructions.
Scapular push-up
In a push-up position with straight arms, let the chest sink between the shoulder blades, then push the floor away.
- Get into a push-up position with straight arms, or lean against a wall.
- Keeping the arms straight, let the chest sink so the shoulder blades come together.
- Push the floor away until the upper back is slightly rounded. That is one.
Easier: Against a wall, or on the knees.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 10–12, resting 45 seconds between sets.
You need floor space or a wall. Full instructions.
Top hold
Jump or step to the top of a pull-up and hold there, elbows bent.
- Stand on a box so your chin is at or above the bar.
- Take an overhand grip and step off, holding the top position with the elbows bent and the shoulders down.
- Hold, then lower yourself slowly back to the box.
Easier: Hold at the halfway point instead of the top, or keep one foot lightly on the box.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 5–15 s, resting 90 seconds between sets.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
Lowering from the top
Start at the top of a pull-up and lower yourself as slowly as you can to straight arms.
- Step or jump to the top of a pull-up from a box.
- Lower yourself slowly, taking four to five seconds to reach straight arms.
- At the bottom, set the shoulders down for a moment, then step back onto the box. Do not pull back up.
Easier: Lower only from the top to halfway, or with a band.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 3–5, resting 120 seconds between sets. Four to five seconds down.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
Band-assisted pull-up
A strict pull-up with a band looped under a knee or foot to take some weight.
- Loop a band over the bar and put a knee or foot in it.
- Start from a still, straight-arm hang. Set the shoulders down first.
- Pull until your chin is over the bar, without swinging.
- Lower with control to straight arms. Pause before the next one.
Easier: A stronger band.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 3–6, resting 120 seconds between sets.
You need a bar or a light resistance band. Full instructions.
Strict pull-up
From a still, straight-arm hang, pull until the chin is over the bar, with no swing.
- Hang still with straight arms. Set the shoulders down.
- Pull until the chin is over the bar, legs quiet.
- Lower all the way to straight arms before the next.
Easier: Band-assisted pull-ups, or lowering from the top.
Starting dose in the library: 3 × 1–3, resting 150 seconds between sets. Singles are fine. Stop the set at the first rep that hurts or needs a swing.
You need a bar. Full instructions.
For this guide, one set of any size is enough. You do not have to do the full dose — stop at whatever is comfortable.
Or browse the drill library, or leave the guide for the practice page.
Get ready
- Where the phone goes:
- Prop the phone up so it can see you, or ask somebody to hold it. If filming is awkward, skip it: you can type the set in instead.
- The camera cannot count this drill. Film it to keep the movement as proof, and type in the count.
Where to put the phone, with a picture · Watch the counter read a sample set· How to do the drill
Do not start, or stop, if any of these apply:
- The pain started with a fall, a dislocation, or a sudden pop or tear, and you cannot lift the arm since.
- Numbness, tingling or pins and needles running down the arm or into the hand.
- Weakness that is getting worse, or the arm suddenly much weaker than the other.
- Pain that wakes you at night and does not ease when you change position.
- Swelling, redness, heat or a fever with the pain.
- Pain in the chest, jaw or left arm with breathlessness or sweating — call emergency services.
- A visible lump, change in shape, or the shoulder looking different from the other.
Do one set
Do as many as are comfortable — fewer than the dose is fine. Stop if the pain goes above5 out of 10, or if it is sharp or catching. Then film it, open a clip you recorded, or type in what you did.
The page was reloaded, so the clip's reading is gone — the video itself was never kept. Open the clip again, or type the set in.
The video never leaves this device. The pose model runs here in the browser, and only twelve joint positions per frame — no face — are kept as proof.
Loading the pose model…
What you did
How much did it hurt?
Saved
The pain rule
- 0–3 out of 10 during the drill: fine, carry on.
- 4–5: do less — a smaller range, fewer reps, or the easier version.
- 6 or more: stop that drill for today.
- Worse the next morning than before the session: that session was too much. Step back.
- 6 or more on waking, any morning: rest the shoulder that day.
Sharp or catching pain, or pins and needles, means stop regardless of the number.
Tomorrow morning
The pain rule has a second half that arrives later. Tomorrow morning, openyour progress page and say how the shoulder feels. If it is worse than it was before this set, the set was too much, and the page says to step back.You did not record pain before the set this time, so there is nothing to compare with — record it before your next one.
Finishing this guide is not a phase test, and passes none. The set itself is an ordinary log, read the same way as any other.
If you want to go on
- Log another set on the practice page. Next time, this guide offers that first.
- Read the shoulder program — who it is for and not for — before following it.
- Make an account to keep your logs on every device. Optional: everything works without one, and sets saved in this browser can be moved into it.