How to Fix Rounded Shoulders Posture With 8 Effective Exercises

In this article, I will show you how to fix rounded shoulders most effectively.

Let’s dive into the theory behind rounded shoulder first, and afterward, you will learn the fastest way to improve your posture.

Bonus: 12 most common questions regarding rounded shoulders at the end of this article.

What Are Rounded Shoulders?

Rounded shoulders are postural impairment when your resting shoulder position is in the front of your torso midline.

Rounding of your back and forward head position often accompany rounded shoulders posture. Upper back slouching is also known as Thoracic Kyphosis.

The synonym for rounded shoulders is “mom posture”, and if left untreated, it can cause further pain and problems in the upper body.

Rounded shoulders can cause pain in several areas of your body, such as neck, shoulder, shoulder blade (middle back), and even hip.

Let’s see now what is causing your rounded shoulders and test for rounded shoulders.

What Causes Rounded Shoulders?

The most common cause for rounded shoulders is poor posture during your day combined with activities that promote tightness in the front of your shoulder/chest while overstretching your upper back muscles.

Let me explain it.

Sitting in front of your PC or TV with slouched back will make your muscles adapt to rounded shoulders after some time. Why?

Because muscles in your upper back will become weaker and would enjoy you having your shoulders further forward, so they don’t have to work too much.

In the meantime, muscles in your front shoulder and chest will hold your rounded shoulders in place with their muscle tightness.

As long as you continue with having a slouched back posture in your daily activities, you will contribute to poor upper body posture.

Activities that promote tight chest and weak upper back muscles are:

Training focused most on chest exercises while neglecting face pull exercises.
Cycling, driving, or using a phone with slouched back.
Breastfeeding.
Throwing activities.

How to Tell If You Have Rounded Shoulders?

Posture With Rounded Shoulders

Here is how your upper body is adapting to rounded shoulders. Those changes are minimal, but they are noticeable by physical therapists or chiropractors.

Medially rotated arms (humerus is in inward rotation).
Shoulder blades are slightly moved away from the spine (protracted scapula).
Rounded upper back with reduced thoracic extension/rotation.
Increased Neck Lordosis (neck curve in shape of letter ‘C’).

See the picture above.

Blue line is midline of the torso
Yellow line is midline of the shoulder

Here are four tests that can help you analyze your posture for a rounded shoulder.

Thumb Test

Start from a standing position with your regular posture.
Let your arm hang by your side.

You have rounded shoulders if:

Thumbs are pointing toward your body.
Palms are pointing backward.

Wall Test for Forward Head Posture and Rounded Shoulders

Start from a standing position with your back against the wall.
Analyze your contact points with the wall.

Your head, midback and buttocks should be in contact with the wall. If that is not the case, here is the explanation why:

If your head isn’t touching the wall, you may have a forward head posture.
If your shoulder blades are struggling to keep the contact with the wall, then you may have rounded shoulders.

Test for Tight Chest Muscles

Testing the tightness of chest muscles is helpful when you suspect having rounded shoulders. Here is how to do it:

Lay down on your back.
Place your arms above your head, forming the letter Y with the arms.
Repeat the same with arms forming the letter T.

You have tight chest muscles (pectoral group) if your arms are not in the contact with the ground throughout the whole arm.

Test for Weak Upper Back Muscles

Weak rhomboid and trapezius are contributing factors to rounded shoulders, so you should test their muscle strength. Here is how:

Lay down on your stomach.
Place your arms above your head, forming the letter Y with your body.
Lift your arms from the ground.
Do the same with arms and body forming the letter T.

If you find it hard to hold your arms above the ground for 30s, you may have weak upper body muscles.

Why Should I Fix Rounded Shoulders?

Improving your body posture will bring you several benefits. When we talk about improving your shoulder and upper back posture, here are the benefits you can expect you will get:

Upper back and neck pain relief
Better mobility in your shoulders
Use your maximal height capacity
Improved breathing pattern
Gain confidence
Energy boost
Reduced headache

Having a good shoulder and upper back posture will make you use your back muscles efficiently and avoid unnecessary muscle fatigue or other muscle injuries.

With proper shoulder alignment, you will also improve your range of motion in shoulder joint as well as scapulohumeral rhythm (movement pattern between shoulder joint and shoulder blades). That will result in fewer trigger points and smoother overhead movements.

Chest muscles help you breathe in, so you don’t want them to be tight and restrict your breathing efficiency in any way.

Standing with a straight back will make you stand taller since your upper back will not be bent forward.

Body language is important, and with good shoulder and back posture, you give an impression to others that you are a confident and open person.

Let’s move on to the guide on how to fix rounded shoulders most efficiently.

How to Fix Rounded Shoulders with Exercises

Restoring muscle balance in the upper body is a key to correcting rounded shoulders. Since muscles in chest area are tight while upper back muscles are weak when rounded shoulders are present, you need to focus on:

Improving the flexibility of the chest and front shoulder muscles.
Improve the strength of the upper back muscles.

Weak Muscles	Tight Muscles
Rhomboids	Chest Muscles
Mid and Lower Trapezius	Latissimus Dorsi
Serratus Anterior	Upper Trapezius
Rotator Cuff	Levator Scapulae

Here is the list of exercises you should do to fix rounded shoulders.

1. Standing Chest Stretch Against The Wall

Stand next up to wall.
Place your arm at the wall (like on picture above).
Rotate your body against wall while holding your palm at wall.
Hold for 30s.
You should feel the stretching in chest muscles.

2. Upper Chest Stretch With Chair

Start from kneeling position with chair in front of you.
Place your hands on chair.
Press your upper body down while holding your hands on the chair.
Hold for 30s.
This exercises is stretching upper part of chest muscle.

3. Lats Stretch With Chair

Start with kneeling position and a chair in front of you.
Place your elbows on the chair.
Push your upper body down slowly.
Hold for 30s.
This exercise will stretch the lats.

4. Wall Slides

Here you can see the starting position for wall slides exercise.

Hold your arms tight to the wall.
Slowly lift your arms while holding contact with the wall.
Repeat for 10 times.
This exercise is great for mobility in shoulder and upper back area.

5. Upper Body Rotation From Kneeling Stance

Start from one leg kneeling stance against the wall.
Place one arm on the wall while rotation your body and other arm against the wall.
Repeat for 10 times.
This exercise is great for improving thoracic rotation.

thoracic rotation from kneeling stance end position

6. Arm Lifts Against Wall: Y, T and 90/90.

Stand closely against the wall.
Place your arms on the wall in one of the following position; Y, T or 90/90.
Lift your arms and hold for 5s.
Repeat for 10 times.
These exercises will help you strengthen rhomboids and trapezius muscles.

See the pictures below.

Wall pull Y

Wall Pull T

Wall Pull 90/90

Controlling the environment

Our daily habits have a significant impact on our posture. By improving them, you will make your body more functional over time. Some of the things you should take care of are:

How you sit
How you use your mobile
How you watch TV/use PC
Active lifestyle

Here is some practical advice you can implement right away (how to sit in front of a PC):

Hold your knees bent at 90 degrees.
Keep slightly low back arc (lumbar lordosis). Use a lumbar cushion if needed.
Keep your monitor in line with your eyes (so you don’t look down or up).
Relax your forearm on a table (preventing shoulder shrug).
Take frequent breaks from sitting (use alarm if needed).

Rounded Shoulders: Goals and Perfection

You should always set a goal when improving your posture. That way, you know if you are on the right path or not.

While improving your rounded shoulders, here are some goals you can use:

Shoulders are in line with the midline of the torso while standing.
Shoulder blades are in a good resting position (not protracted forward).
Retest with Thumb and Wall test for rounded shoulder and forward head posture.

The Wall test is practical because you can measure the distance from the wall to your head or your shoulder blades, so you will track improvements precisely.

Keep in mind that perfect posture doesn’t exist.

But we all should strive for functionality and with a rounded shoulder, the functionality of the upper body is compromised.

Because of that, you should work on correcting rounded shoulders.

The key to longevity with exercising and improving your daily habits is to:

Enjoy the process
Know what and why you are doing it
Goals shouldn’t be more important than the process
Share your experience with others

Common Questions Regarding Fixing Rounded Shoulders

Here is the list of the 12 most common questions regarding rounded shoulders.

1. Can you actually fix rounded shoulders?

Yes, you can. Restoring muscle function in your upper body and having a proper corrective training routine will eventually improve your rounded shoulder posture.

2. What muscles are weak with rounded shoulders?

Muscles in the upper back area like rhomboideus and trapezius are weak when rounded shoulders are present. Additionally, weak lats contribute to this posture.

3. Are rounded shoulders genetic?

Rounded shoulders are almost always a result of your sedentary lifestyle and muscle dysfunction in the upper back/chest. Genetic rounded shoulders refer to structural (bone) misalignment and are rare.

4. How long does it take to correct rounded shoulders?

Correcting time for rounded shoulders depends on many factors such as age, muscle function, daily activity and training routine, but you can expect posture improvement after four to six weeks.

5. What problems do rounded shoulders cause?

Rounded shoulders cause stress in the upper back area: neck, shoulder, thoracic spine and lead to shallow breathing patterns with overuse of accessory muscles.

6. Can tight lats cause rounded shoulders?

Tight lats contribute to rounded shoulders posture because their attachment is on the front side of the shoulder. Overactive lats will pull your shoulders anteriorly (forward) and emphasize a rounded shoulder posture.

7. Do rounded shoulders affect height?

Standing with rounded shoulders and a hunched back will affect your height negatively, up to two inches. Improving your back and shoulders posture will make you use your maximal height capacity.

8. Do doctors recommend posture correctors for rounded shoulders?

Yes, but only in the initial phase and for a limited time. Back braces are not the absolute answer for fixing your rounded shoulders because they lead to weak back muscles.

9. Can posture be corrected at any age?

It’s never too late to improve your posture. You have a good chance of improving your shoulder and back posture even if you are forty, fifty or sixty years old.

10. Can a chiropractor fix rounded shoulders?

A chiropractor can help you analyze your back posture, lose tight muscles and give exercises to improve your posture. But, you have to exercise to fix your rounded shoulders.

11. Can round shoulders cause breathing problems?

Yes. Rounded shoulder contributes to shallow breathing. Your body will use more of upper chest muscles to breathe instead diaphragm.

12. What does slouching say about you?

Slouching gives an impression to others that you are either bored, anxious or tired. Body language is powerful, and your shoulder and back posture is a significant part of body language.

References

Author

My name is Trivo. I'm a physiotherapist and I enjoy exercising, learning new stuff in physio and fitness world, and sharing my knowledge and point of view in this field.