Safe Return to the Push Up

After a shoulder injury or surgery, the push-up can be a bit of a milestone in itself. Thankfully we have a step-by-step way to help you get doing push-ups again and reduce the chance of pain and failure! The best way to think about it is to drop the load, just like any other strengthening pathway. However it's hard to drop the load when the load is your body weight, right? Wrong!

Start off against a wall to make sure you have nailed the scapula movement correctly and can go from a scapula press (I assume you have got the winging part fixed!). Then you gradually lower the height of the push-up. Go to a 1-meter height surface such as your kitchen bench. This will gently add load and still keep you in a full plank push-up position where you can still focus on the glute and core working at the same time as the correct arm movement.

Then lower to around 700mm such as a work desk, kitchen table, or stools. Then it just keeps going lower each week to something like the sofa or floor on your knees (or bosu) and then eventually the normal push-up position on the floor.