Frozen shoulder is one of the few musculoskeletal conditions where the exercises matter less than how you do them. Push too hard into a capsule that is actively inflaming and you extend the painful phase; do nothing at all and you lose range that takes months to win back. The six exercises below are the standard set, and the rule printed above them is the most important line on this page.
Which stage of a frozen shoulder you are in decides how hard to push, and PhysioHub's guide to frozen shoulder treatment sets out those stages.
Aching and a sense of stretch during these exercises are normal. If pain turns severe and stays that way for more than 20-30 minutes, cut the frequency down or work less forcefully. Severe pain that continues means stopping and consulting your GP or specialist.
1. Pendulum
Lean forwards onto a support. Let the affected arm hang freely. Swing it forwards and backwards, then side to side, then in circles both clockwise and anti-clockwise.
REPEAT: each movement 5-10 times
2. Twisting outwards
Sit holding a stick or an umbrella; lying down works too. Keep the elbow tucked against your side the whole time. Use the good arm to push, so the hand of the painful arm travels away from your body. Keep the trunk still rather than letting it twist along with the movement.
REPEAT: 5-10 times
3. Arm overhead
Take hold of the affected arm at the wrist with your other hand and lift it overhead. Keep the back from arching. Bending the elbow is an equally good version.
REPEAT: 5-10 times
4. Twisting outwards / arm overhead
Lie on your back with the knees bent. Put both hands behind your neck or head with the elbows pointing at the ceiling, then let the elbows drop out to the sides.
REPEAT: 5-10 times
5. Kneel on all fours
Ease your weight back towards your heels.
REPEAT: 5-10 times
6. Stretching the back of the shoulder
Stand with the arms by your sides and take hold of the wrist of the affected arm. Ease that arm across towards the opposite buttock, then slide it up your back. A towel makes a useful progression.
This is usually the last movement to come back. Where it feels painful rather than merely stiff, leave it alone rather than forcing it.
REPEAT: 5 times
The final line of exercise 6 contains the whole principle in one sentence. Stiffness that yields as you work into it is what you are trying to move. Pain that stops the movement before stiffness does means the capsule is still irritable, and forcing it makes the next few weeks worse rather than better.
Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is a problem of the joint capsule rather than the tendons around it. The capsule thickens, contracts and becomes densely painful, which is why the shoulder loses range in every direction and why nobody else can move it further than you can. That last point is the clinical signature: in a rotator cuff problem, a clinician can usually move the shoulder further than you can move it yourself, and in a frozen shoulder they cannot.
It classically runs in three phases: a painful freezing phase where pain dominates and range falls, a frozen phase where pain eases and stiffness rules, and a thawing phase where range gradually returns. Total duration is commonly quoted as one to three years, and a meaningful minority are left with some restriction that never fully resolves. Diabetes raises both the risk of developing it and the likelihood of a longer course.
Which phase you are in should change what you do. In the painful phase, gentle pendulum work and pain relief do more than aggressive stretching. In the stiff phase, sustained end-range work is what shifts things and is well tolerated. Our article on frozen shoulder treatment covers the phases and the local treatment options in more detail.
The UK has an unusually good answer to this question. UK FROST, published in The Lancet in 2020, is the largest randomised trial comparing the three main options for primary frozen shoulder in secondary care: early structured physiotherapy with a steroid injection, manipulation under anaesthetic, and arthroscopic capsular release.
At 12 months, none of the three was superior to the others on patient-reported pain and function. Arthroscopic capsular release carried a higher risk of complications than manipulation under anaesthetic, and early structured physiotherapy was the least invasive of the three by some distance.
The sensible reading is that a well-delivered exercise programme, supported by a steroid injection where pain is limiting, is a legitimate first-line treatment rather than a holding pattern before the real thing. It is worth knowing that the physiotherapy arm in the trial was 12 sessions over up to 12 weeks with mobilisation and a graduated home programme, which is a good deal more input than a leaflet.
Four things separate the people who make steady progress from the people who do the same six exercises for six months without much changing.
Getting seen for a frozen shoulder in East Sussex runs through the county MSK pathway, which since December 2024 has been the East Sussex MSK Community Partnership. It accepts self-referral for physiotherapy, so a GP appointment is not required first. What it involves is a wait, and frozen shoulder is one of the conditions where a wait carries a cost: a shoulder left through the painful phase without guidance often arrives at the stiff phase with more range lost than it needed to.
The clinical value of being seen early is mostly about being told which phase you are in and what that means for how hard to push, plus a clear decision about whether a steroid injection is worth pursuing while pain is at its peak. Both change what the next three months look like. At PhysioHub in Uckfield, the most common thing worth correcting is people stretching hard through the painful freezing phase in the belief that they are preventing stiffness, when the capsule is at its most reactive and the effort is buying them more pain rather than more range.
Our page on shoulder pain in Uckfield covers how frozen shoulder is distinguished from the other causes and what treatment involves.
How often should I do frozen shoulder exercises?
Little and often works better than one long session. Several short goes a day is the pattern that shifts range.
Should frozen shoulder exercises hurt?
Aching and a stretch sensation are expected. Severe pain lasting more than 20 to 30 minutes afterwards means you have pushed too hard.
How long does frozen shoulder take to get better?
Commonly one to three years across all three phases. Exercise influences how much range you keep and how fast you regain it.
Is surgery better than physiotherapy?
UK FROST found no difference in pain and function at 12 months between early structured physiotherapy, manipulation under anaesthetic and capsular release, with more complications from surgery.
Can I stretch a frozen shoulder too much?
Yes, particularly in the early painful phase. That is what the pain rule at the top of this page is guarding against.
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