Dumbbell Pendulum Exercise
oec:dumbbell-pendulum-exercise
A gentle rehabilitation and mobility exercise where the arm hangs relaxed with a light dumbbell while trunk sway drives small circular or pendular motions to mobilize the shoulder joint.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Codman Pendulum Exercise, Dumbbell Codman Exercise, Pendular Shoulder Exercise, Codman's Pendulum Exercise, Shoulder Dumbbell Pendular Exercise
How to do it
Setup
- Grasp a very light dumbbell in the hand of the target shoulder.
- Hinge at your hips to lean forward until your torso is at a 45- to 90-degree angle, supporting your other hand firmly on a sturdy table, bench, or chair.
- Allow the weighted arm to dangle perpendicular to the floor, completely relaxed, letting the light load provide gentle traction to the joint.
Movement
- Gently sway your hips and torso in small circles or forward-and-back rocking motions to initiate momentum.
- Allow the relaxed arm to swing passively in small, controlled circles or arcs driven solely by the movement of your body.
- Maintain a completely loose shoulder without actively contracting the deltoid or rotator cuff.
- Smoothly reverse the direction of the circles or switch to linear swings as prescribed.
Breathing
Breathe slowly and rhythmically throughout the movement to promote muscular relaxation in the upper body.
Cues
- Let the arm dangle like a dead weight
- Move your body to swing your arm
- Keep your neck and shoulder completely relaxed
Common faults
- Actively swinging the arm with the shoulder muscles rather than using trunk momentum.
- Keep the shoulder completely passive and initiate all motion through subtle rocking of your hips and torso.
- Using too heavy of a dumbbell, causing reflexive muscle guarding.
- Use minimal load, typically 1 to 5 pounds (0.5 to 2 kg), or perform without weight if any muscle tension is felt.
- Tensing the neck or hunching the non-working shoulder.
- Firmly support your upper-body weight on the stable surface and keep your neck relaxed in neutral alignment.
Safety
- Do not use heavy resistance; this exercise is designed for joint mobilization and decompression, not strength training.
- Stop immediately if you experience sharp or pinching shoulder pain.
Muscles
Joints
- Shoulder: Circumduction, Flexion, Extension, Abduction, Adduction
- Shoulder blade: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Mobility drill
- Modality
- Rehabilitation, Mobility
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- not applicable
- Laterality
- unilateral
- Kinetic chain
- open
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Record
- Duration; or Repetitions
- Load
- external, total
Sources
- wger: Shoulder Dumbbell Pendular Exercise, by Croak6728 (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.