Weight training exercises can be helpful for sore or injured neck and shoulder muscles. Try these shoulder rehab exercises and strength training exercises for sore shoulder and neck muscles. The neck is often a neglected part of the body when exercising. There are exercises you can do that will directly target the neck and shoulder. These exercises will strengthen these muscle groups.

Keep Your Shoulders and Neck Flexible and Strong With These Exercises

Try these shoulder rehab exercises to improve soreness and injury in your shoulder and neck area. They have been shown to be very effective.

Shoulder Rehab Exercises / Neck Exercises- Keeping These Muscles Flexible:

While it's important to strengthen your neck and shoulder muscles, it's just as important to keep these muscles flexible. Injuries to the neck and shoulder muscles are fairly common.

We recommend that you stretch every morning. Stretching keeps your overall body flexible, but stretching also helps prevent injuries. You will be amazed how much better you feel physically when you stretch each morning. The easiest shoulder rehab exercises are stretching exercises.

Keeping Your Neck Flexible:

Neck Rolls:

The first stretching exercise you should do is neck rolls. They will help keep your neck flexible. You can do neck rolls standing up or sitting down.

1) Roll your neck in a clockwise fashion for a few revolutions (full 360 degrees neck roll). Then, roll your neck in a counter clockwise fashion for a few revolutions.

2) Turn your neck to the side. Then turn your neck to the other side. Then turn your neck downward toward your chest. Then lift your neck so that you are looking up at the ceiling and then as far behind you as you can (in other words, lift your chin as far up as you can so that your face is parallel to the ground).

Shoulder Rehab Exercises - Keeping Your Shoulder Muscles Flexible:

Shoulder Shrugs without Weights:

After stretching the neck muscles, do some shoulder shrug stretches. While standing and keeping your head still, lift your shoulders so that you are trying to touch your ears with your shoulders.

While lifting your shoulders toward your ears, roll the shoulders behind you. What you are doing is making a circular motion with your shoulders while you are lifting them toward you ears. So you are rolling your shoulder muscles and shrugging the shoulders at the same time. Just think of making circles with your shoulder muscles while you are lifting your shoulders to your ears.

Once you have done 8 to 10 of these shoulder shrugs, go in the opposite direction - in other words, move your shoulders from back to front while you are lifting your shoulders toward your ears. You are making the same motion as before, just in the opposite direction. Concentrate on making circles with your shoulders while you lift them toward your ears.

Shoulder Flexibility #2:

Stand up while doing this exercise. Stretch your arms out so that you are making a "T" with your body. Your arms should be trying to reach out in opposite directions.

While keeping your elbows locked, make small circles with your arms. Make these circles in one direction for 8 to 10 repetitions, then make the circles in the opposite direction for 8 to 10 repetitions.

Keeping your elbows locked, now make bigger circles with your arms. Make circles in one direction for 8 to 10 repetitions, and then make circles in the opposite direction for 8 to 10 repetitions.

Keeping your elbows locked, make yet even bigger circles with your arms. Slowly make the circles as big as you can without injuring yourself. Make these circles in one direction for 8 to 10 repetitions, then make the circles in the opposite direction for 8 to 10 repetitions.

These neck and shoulder stretching exercises will only take a minute or two.

Weight training exercises for sore and injured shoulder / neck muscles:

Click here for our neck exercises you can do without equipment.

Strength training may ease chronic neck and shoulder pain and can be very effective shoulder rehab exercises. If you spend a lot of time on the computer, or any job where you feel a crick in your neck, these neck exercises and shoulder exercises will help relieve some of the pain. The flexibility exercises mentioned above (the neck rolls and shoulder shrugs that are done without weights) can be excellent desk exercises (exercises you can do at work a few times a day while seated at your desk or while on break).