The BEST Shoulder Instability Exercises (+ 3 Sample Programs)

Does your shoulder feel unstable? You might even be recovering from a shoulder dislocation. Then you’ve come to the right place because in this article, I’ll show you the best shoulder instability exercises.

Most people think that they have to do unstable exercises to increase stability. This is only part of the truth. In fact, they can CAUSE problems if you do them too early. More on that in a moment.

I will show you how to stabilize your shoulder long term. As always: the recommendations I’m about to give you here use scientific research. If you follow the advice, you will make progress – period!

And to make things super easy for you, I prepared 3 sample shoulder stability programs for you. One for the early stage, mid stage and late stage of rehab. This way you can start bulletproofing your shoulder immediately.

The Big Problem of Shoulder Instability

There are no quick fixes for increasing the stability of your shoulder. Things like taping feel great and they give you a sense of stability. But they don’t actually stabilize the shoulder.

And they don’t seem to help with shoulder pain either, as shown in a research study by Celik et al. in 2020. So we can’t rely on stuff like that.

What’s also very difficult is to find the right exercises for your current situation.

If you are recovering from surgery right now, the exercises should be low-intensity. If you are in the late stage of your rehab, you need much more intensity to cause adaptations.

And if you want to get back into a contact sport like soccer or alike, your exercises should be different as well.

So what you need is a selection of exercises that you can adjust to your own needs.

Let’s dive into that now.

Shoulder Instability Exercises

The exercise selection that I have for you uses scientific research. For example the “Derby Shoulder Instability Rehab Programme” which has shown great results (Bateman et al. 2015).

According to this, we should improve the strength and proprioception of the shoulder. Proprio stands for “self” and ception stands for “sense”. That means you want a good sense of the position of your shoulder in space.

I will also extend this program so that it definitely works for you. No matter if you are rehabbing after surgery or you’re a high-level athlete.

I’ve divided the exercises into 5 phases which increase in difficulty.

Phase 1: Range of Motion

This stage is important if you had surgery after shoulder dislocation. In the beginning, your goal should be to restore the full range of motion of your shoulder joint.

The most affected ranges of motion are:

• Lifting your arm forward (flexion)
• Moving your arm backward behind your body (extension)
• Rotating the shoulder inwards and outwards (internal & external rotation)

Exercise 1 & 2: Shoulder Flexion with a stick or a bench

Exercise 3: Shoulder Extension with a stick

Exercise 4: Shoulder Internal Rotation

For Shoulder Internal Rotation start without weight first. Then use a small dumbbell or weight plate.

Exercise 5: Shoulder External Rotation

Start with your arm by your side. As you improve, abduct your shoulder and arm to about 90 °. Then take a small dumbbell or weight plate and rotate your shoulder externally.

Perform 2-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions per exercise. You can do those exercises daily or even many times a day.

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Phase 2: Closed Chain Exercises

The following exercises use a closed kinetic chain. That means that you place the hands on a stable surface. That way they’re unable to move.

This offers a very stable environment for the shoulder, why they are a great starting place.

Exercise 1: Quadruped Variations

First, you want to start on all fours. If that works well, try lifting one arm or one leg at a time. The next step would be to turn this into a bird dog. So lift one leg and the opposing arm at the same time.

Exercise 2: Forearm Plank

Exercise 3: Dolphin Press

I really like the Dolphin Press, because it’s a closed chain movement. Yet it still allows you to dynamically move into end-range shoulder flexion.

Exercise 4: Side Plank Rotation

Again: a huge advantage is the dynamic movement on the shoulder that needs to stabilize.

Perform 2-3 sets of 20-60 seconds or 10-20 repetitions per exercise. You can do those exercises 2-4x per week.

Now that we’ve worked a lot in a very stable environment, we want to reach the next level. We do that with open chain exercises.

Phase 3: Open Chain Exercises

Your hands can move freely with these exercises. That’s why they’re called open chain exercises. They are much more unstable than the closed chain ones.

What I want you to keep in mind here is:

please start with unilateral/isolateral exercises. That means that you train each arm separately.

Compare a dumbbell bench press to a barbell bench press. In the barbell bench press, the stronger arm can compensate for the weaker/less stable side. That’s not possible when working with dumbbells.

Let’s get into it now. I want you to choose exercises that work the shoulder in the 4 basic upper body movement patterns. The following ones are examples. Feel free to change things up.

Exercise 1: Bench Press – 1 Arm (DB)

This is a horizontal pushing movement.

Exercise 2: Bent-over Row – 1 Arm (DB)

This is a horizontal pulling movement.

Exercise 3: Half Kneeling Shoulder Press – Alternating (DB)

This is a vertical pushing movement. You don’t have to do this in a half kneeling stance. Feel free to sit on a bench.

I would go with 3 sets of 8-15 repetitions per exercise.

Start with a lower intensity, which means that you shouldn’t go to failure on each set. In fact: nowhere close to it.

As the weeks go by try increasing the intensity. Until you reach a point where you can only do 1-2 repetitions more per set. Do those exercises 2x per week.

If you tolerate these open chain exercises well, you can move on to phase 4.

Phase 4: Plyometric Exercises

I can’t stress enough how important this phase is. Especially if you take part in a sport. People tend to end their rehab as soon as they are capable of performing phase 3. And this is a mistake.

You want to be able to stabilize your shoulder in faster conditions as well. And we can train that!

Exercise 1: Decelerating Push-Up

As the name of the exercise suggests, we focus on the deceleration of the bodyweight.

Exercise 2: Plyometric Push-Up

In this case, you accelerate and decelerate your body weight.

These two exercises work in a closed chain again. Now we also want some open chain ones.

You can also adjust the intensity of those two push-up exercises. Make them easier by doing them in a kneeling position. You can also adjust the load on the shoulder by working with a bench, for example. That way, your body is in a slight incline position, making the exercises easier.

Exercise 3: Ball Drops

These are excellent. You just need a weighted ball for those. You can grab one of those on Amazon for example. Otherwise, you can also work with a very small weight plate that you catch with your fingers.

Try to work in different shoulder positions as well.

Exercise 4: Ball Dribbles

These are a must if you take part in sports like:

• Handball
• Tennis
• Badminton
• Baseball
• American Football
• Cricket
• Rugby
• Javelin Throw

Try to work in different shoulder positions as well.

Go for 3 sets of 6-10 Reps as far as the push-ups go. And 3 sets of 30-60 seconds work great for the ball drops and dribbles.

Do those exercises twice a week.

We’re not quite done yet. There’s one more phase to cover.

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Phase 5: Perturbation Exercises

This can be an interesting category if you want to get back into contact sports. Because there, you have to deal with more or less unexpected external forces.

Adam Meakins and Ben Cormack inspired me to include this phase in the article. Make sure you check them out on Instagram for great content on rehab.

Exercise 1: Ball Support Perturbations

For this exercise, you support your bodyweight on a ball that you place against a wall.

Now a partner will push against your arm from different directions.

Your task is to stay as stable as possible.

Exercise 2: Hand Follow

Stand opposite of each other, hand against hand. Your partner will start pushing against you and moving the hand around. Your task is to try and match the force and direction of the other person.

Exercise 3: Banded Perturbations

Hold a resistance band with the hand of the affected shoulder. Position your shoulder in a certain way. Your partner says “brace” and then moves your arm in any direction. Again, your task is to stay as stable as possible.

For the first two exercises, you can work with 3 sets of 15-30 seconds. As far as the banded perturbations go, I like to work with 3 sets of 5-10 perturbations per shoulder position.

Creating Your Individual Rehab Program

Here are three sample programs to get you started:

As you can see, you will be mixing the exercises of several levels. The goal is to increase the intensity over time. That means: try to work your way up in the 5 phases.

Feel free to change exercises according to your preferences.

By the way just a quick info:

If you are an athlete an you currently dealing with pain because of shoulder instability feel free to click on this link to inform yourself about my “Pain Coaching”. This allows you to have a free call with me in which we can talk about your pain.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Taping, bracing etc. won’t stabilize your shoulder. You need a comprehensive and progressive exercise program.

I want you to pick one of the three programs I provided for you. And then get started immediately. Don’t overthink it – you can always adjust along the way. If you notice that some exercises are too easy, pick some of the later phases. And vice versa.

By the way if you need more info on shoulder instability, make sure you check out the article by e3rehab.

People with shoulder instability often report having trigger points in their neck. In this article I show you how to get rid of them in 7 simple steps.

Also if you’re dealing with pain, I’m sure my free pain guide will help you out. You can download it here.

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