Treat Your Own Shoulder Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 2009

All the Robin McKenzie books on self-treating joint problems are excellent. I have used the well-written books on treating your own neck and on treating your own back with excellent results from the exercises and tips. So I recently got this book on shoulder pain. The exercises for the shoulder are similar to what I have been doing anyway after going to a physical therapist and shoulder surgeon several years ago and learning various home exercises which helped. I have a rotator cuff problem. Besides the illustrated and well explained exercises, McKenzie's books explain in easily understood layman's terms the mechanics and problems of joint problems and how to avoid stresses. The books are filled with helpful photographs and illustrations. I've been a believer in the McKenzie methods for years. Along with doctor appointments and physical therapy, his books for me have been a helpful way to do the needed exercises and to avoid surgery and cortisone injections. I do his back extension exercises daily and the shoulder and neck exercises as needed. A friend who is an orthopedic surgeon and has back problems himself gave me a copy of Robin's book on back pain and exercises to relieve it years ago. Started to work for me right away. Good physical therapists and doctors know about McKenzie's method and encourage these exercises. Some exercises I've been given by doctors and therapists have made things worse. I go with what helps. I probably could have used his knee books before I had two surgeries on my right knee for meniscus tears. Now, the products McKenzie sells such as the cervical roll haven't helped much. However, I use his original lumbar roll routinely behind my back when driving and it helps a lot.

I really gained a lot of benefit from the method/exercise program in this book. At first I didn't think that such a simple program would work; but it did. This method reduced my shoulder pain to a level that, eventually, allowed me to do other exercises (hanging/weightlifting); which are necessary for strengthening and rehabilitating the muscles, further. With this method, my pain took about 3 weeks to subside enough, whereas I could do more things. Now, as the book suggests, I only do a few of the exercises, as needed. The program has you perform six simple & quick exercises every two hours until bedtime (6-8x per day); all together, the six exercises take about 10 minutes to perform and you can do them anywhere. You can feel how therapeutic the movements are when you're going through them. I am so grateful I stumbled upon this book; because, it also, led me to become aware of how extremely important proper posture is for the health of a person's shoulders (I got a book for that, too), and it has made me feel more empowered in taking steps to improve my situation without relying on various medical treatments that have various horror stories associated to them!

Read entire book. Did every exercise. I really felt no pain while doing any of the exercises. I did them every day anyway. My pain still continued for a while and is now 50% better. But I am not sure I can attribute it to the book. What may not work for me may work for someone else.Very easy to read. I finished it in an hour.

I was having issues with my shoulder and my doctor had me go to a physical therapist for treatment. He basically gave me one exercise to do, and made it worse. I went back to the doctor and gave me a cortisone injection and also suggested I obtain this book. Unfortunately the injection did not help much, but the exercises in the book has made a difference. The book is very easy to read and very comprehensive in the information you need to understand how your shoulder is designed and made to work. It provides excellent pictures on how to do the exercises and in the order that they should be done. I gave up on the PT, and am using the exercises in the book and seeing significant improvement in my shoulder.I would recommend this to anyone that is having shoulder issues. I would also like to say that this does not replace a doctor's or physical therapists diagnosis. Once you are evaluated, ask your doctor if he feels you would benefit from this book.This same author has similar books for the neck, back, knee, etc. I had already owned the neck and back ones, and have since added this one to my library.

I am experienced in training for various sports such a swimming, tennis, etc. and have worked office jobs where endless sitting and often typing (e.g. progress notes, documentation). Several times over the decades I have relied on McKinzie’s books to get on track to reduce wear and tear. After giving away this Shoulder book many years ago, I have had a period of shoulder pain and poor functioning which, thankfully, McKinzie’s methods, carefully followed, have given quick improvement and a path to maintaining that improvement.

My husband could hardly move his shoulder due to pain. He did the exercises in the book regularly for several weeks and the pain is gone and his range of motion is nearly back to normal!

The treatment principles are sound - put you shoulder in good positions that don't stress them, take breaks when doing a lot of shoulder activities, and stretch. Additionally there is one isometric strengthening exercise.I feel as though there's a certain percentage of people with shoulder pain that this book will help solve - but probably not for those with more complicated issues such as a rotator cuff tear, shoulder arthritis or shoulder instability.Definitely worth a try though, but if it doesn't help, there are some other good books out also by physical therapists such as Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff or Bulletproof Your Shoulder.