What It Means If You Can't Straighten Your Arms Over Your Head
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Can’t Straighten Your Arms Over Your Head? Here’s What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You

Can’t Straighten Your Arms Over Your Head? Here’s What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You
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Updated on October 9, 2025
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If you struggle to fully extend your arms over your head, such as when brushing your hair or reaching for a high shelf, you may have an issue with shoulder mobility.

Your shoulders form the connection point between your arms and body and allow your arms to move in all planes of motion, according to the American Council on Exercise.

Incorporating strength and stretching exercises into your routine can help improve range of motion in your shoulders. Sam Becourtney, a doctor of physical therapy at Sky Health in New York City, recommends the following tips to help get your shoulders back on track.

If You Overarch Your Lower Back, You Might Have a Weak Core

Lacking sufficient core strength can cause you to overextend your lower back and flare your ribs, Dr. Becourtney says. This, paired with limited mobility in your thoracic spine (upper back), causes your body to rely on your lumbar spine (lower back) for support.

“If you have limited thoracic spine extension, you are likely in a slouched or rounded shoulder posture, which will automatically impede your ability to bring your arms overhead,” says Becourtney. To fix this problem, you'll want to build your core strength, he says.

Exercises like high planks can help you build strength in your core, according to the American Council on Exercise.

High Plank

When performing core exercises like a high plank, keep your butt tucked, rib cage pulled down, and core engaged:

  1. Begin kneeling on the floor on your hands and knees. Keep your arms fully extended, hands directly beneath your shoulders.
  2. One leg at a time, straighten and extend your legs behind you, keeping them straight.
  3. Avoid lifting or sinking your hips, ensuring you form a straight line from head to hips to toes.
  4. Keep your ribs pulled down and core engaged as you hold the plank for 30 to 60 seconds.

If You Bend at Your Elbows, You Might Have Tight Shoulders

If you bend your elbows whenever you try to reach your arms over your head (think: ballerina-style), you may have limited range of motion in your shoulders, Becourtney says. As a result, your elbows bend to compensate.

Incorporating exercises to improve your range of motion will help reduce compensation at the elbow.

Thread the Needle

According to the American Council on Exercise, stretches like thread the needle help loosen tight shoulder muscles and increase mobility:

  1. Begin kneeling on the floor on your hands and knees.
  2. Lift your right hand off the floor and thread it under your left arm, reaching across to the left side.
  3. Next, bring your right arm past the start position, lifting your right hand all the way to the ceiling.
  4. Perform the two steps above for 10 to 15 reps, then repeat on the other side.

If You Have Shoulder Pain, You Might Have Tight Shoulder Muscles

“If you're feeling pain in your shoulders, you're experiencing shoulder impingement, which happens at the end of your range of overhead shoulder flexion,” Becourtney says. This happens due to a lack of space for the tendons and rotator cuff to glide smoothly.

Strengthening and stretching exercises can help improve tight muscles. You can try using a foam roller to massage your pecs, lats, and traps to relax the muscles and increase the blood flow to the area. Over time, you may notice decreased pain when reaching your arms overhead.

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Heather Jeffcoat

Heather Jeffcoat, PT, DPT

Medical Reviewer

Heather Jeffcoat, PT, DPT, is a doctor of physical therapy and the founder of Femina Physical Therapy and Fusion Wellness & Physical Therapy, both of which focus on pelvic health and whole-body orthopedic care.

With more than 20 years of clinical experience, Dr. Jeffcoat is a leading expert in the treatment of sexual pain and pelvic floor dysfunction, and her Los Angeles (Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks) and Atlanta-based clinics draw patients from around the world.

She is the author of Sex Without Pain: A Self-Treatment Guide to the Sex Life You Deserve, which is widely used by both patients and healthcare professionals. Jeffcoat regularly lectures internationally on female sexual health, pelvic pain, and interdisciplinary care, and she develops continuing education courses for physical therapists and other providers.

Jeffcoat served as president of the Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy from 2021 to 2024, and held multiple leadership positions with the International Pelvic Pain Society from 2014 to 2023, including acting on their board of directors.

Her patient-centered, integrative approach emphasizes functional recovery and empowerment for those experiencing painful sex, endometriosis, postpartum trauma, menopause-related incontinence or pain, and other complex pelvic and chronic pain conditions. She has created multiple programs, including Birth Prep 101, helping hundreds of women achieve the birth and postpartum recovery support they need.

Her passion extends beyond the clinic walls, as she also founded and runs a 501(c)3, Empower Health Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to providing no cost services to low-income and marginalized populations with pelvic health conditions.

She has been a speaker at the following:

  • World Congress on Abdominal and Pelvic Pain, Cartagena, Colombia, Post-Conference Course: "Chronic Pelvic Pain Evaluation and Management Strategies," 2024
  • American Urogynecologic Association, Advanced Practice, Physical Therapy, and Allied Health Bootcamp: "Pelvic Pain and Sexual Dysfunction Related to PFDs" (AUGS Preconference Course), 2016
  • American Urogynecologic Association, Seattle, "Pathoanatomy and Patient Presentations in Sexual Pain Syndromes," co-presented with Nazema Siddiqui, MD, 2016
  • UCLA Urogynecology and MIGS Lecture Series, "Continence and Pain Mechanisms Beyond the Pelvic Floor," 2024
  • PelviCon National Conference, Atlanta, "The Female Orgasm and Differential Diagnosis of Vaginismus and Vulvodynia," 2022
  • Invited lecturer: Pelvic health education, Reproductive Health Access Project, CSU Fullerton, 2024
  • Expert panel speaker, Menopause Monologues: The Hottest Show In Town, Hollywood, California, 2025

Course developer and instructor, Female Sexual Function, Dysfunction & Pain, United States, Istanbul, Middle East:

  • Sex Therapy for Transgender and Nonbinary Clients, Center for Healthy Sex
  • Cyclist’s Syndrome–Pudendal Neuralgia, Beijing (Chinese Olympic Committee)
  • Multiple CE webinars and in-person labs across North America

Community Education:

  • Creator and host of multiple events in California, Girls’ Night Out: Better Sexual and Pelvic Health
  • Guest speaker, LA LGBTQ Center, Duke University SoCal Women’s Group, and Endo Day
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Bojana Galic

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Bojana Galic is a NASM-certified personal trainer and a staff writer for everydayhealth.com covering fitness, sports nutrition and health. She is a 2018 graduate of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.

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