Most people with stiff shoulders from a screen reach for the stiff part and pull on it. The back of the shoulder is where it is felt, so that is where they stretch.
It is usually the wrong end. The front is what has shortened.
Why the front, not the back
Working at a screen puts your arms out in front of you and keeps them there. That position closes the chest and draws the shoulder blades apart around the ribcage.
The muscles across the front of the chest sit short. The ones between the shoulder blades sit long and end up holding on, which is why the back is what aches.
Stretching the part that aches pulls on tissue that is already lengthened. Opening the front addresses the geometry instead. This is the single most useful idea on this page.
A note on vocabulary. This page describes joint angles and where you are likely to feel a stretch. It makes no promise about what any of it does to your resting shape over time, because that is a question about your body and a professional is the right person to ask.
The six, in order
Front of the chest first, then the shoulder joint, then the upper back.
- Doorway Chest Stretch. Forearm flat on a doorframe, elbow at shoulder height. Step through slowly until the chest opens. Forty seconds each side. The mistake almost everyone makes is pushing the shoulder forward into it. Turn your body away from the arm instead.
- Chest Opener. Hands clasped behind you, shoulder blades drawing together, chest lifting. Thirty seconds.
- Cow Face Arms. One hand over the shoulder, one up the back, fingers reaching towards each other. Thirty seconds each side. Use a towel between the hands if they do not meet, which for most people they do not.
- Reverse Prayer Stretch. Palms together behind your back, fingers pointing up. Thirty seconds. Hard on the wrists for some people; hold opposite forearms instead if so.
- Wall Angels. Back against a wall, arms up at right angles, slide them up and down keeping contact. Forty seconds. A movement rather than a hold, and the one that tells you most about where you are.
- Cobra Pose. Lying face down, hands under the shoulders, lifting the chest. Forty seconds. Keep the shoulders down away from the ears.
Five of the six work with no floor at all. Only cobra needs you to lie down.
Three things that matter more than the stretches
Screen height. If the top of your screen is below eye level, your head drops forward and the shoulders follow. Raising it is a one-off fix that keeps paying.
Where your elbows live. Arms unsupported out in front means the shoulders hold them up all day. Elbows at roughly ninety degrees with forearms supported changes the load.
How often you move. Standing up every forty minutes or so does more about this than any single stretch, because the problem is duration rather than any particular position.
The neck is the other half of the same story, and we covered it in why your neck hurts at a desk.
How long to hold, and how often
Thirty to forty seconds per stretch. The 2025 Sports Medicine meta-analysis of 189 studies and 6,654 adults found no additional benefit from sixty-second holds over thirty-second ones, with weekly gains levelling off at about ten minutes per muscle group and no penalty for spreading those minutes across more sessions.
For the chest and shoulders that is roughly four minutes, three times a week, which is a small ask.
When to stop, and when to ask someone
Stretching is general fitness, not treatment. The shoulder is a joint where it pays to be conservative.
Stop if you get pain at the front of the shoulder joint rather than a stretch across the chest, any clicking that hurts, pain travelling down the arm, pins and needles, numbness, or weakness in the hand. A shoulder that has dislocated or been operated on wants a professional opinion before any of this. Our fitness and safety note has the full version.
Where Lucy fits
Lucy is an iPhone app of short guided stretching routines for people who sit all day. Open Chest and Shoulders is four minutes and six stretches, and it is the six above in that order. The timer counts each hold and tells you when to switch sides.
Unstick Your Neck is the companion, five minutes, no floor required, covering the neck and wrists as well as the shoulders.
One routine is free in full. The rest is a subscription with a 7-day free trial, priced in your own currency on the App Store.
FAQ
Why do my shoulders feel tight from working at a computer?
Arms held out in front for hours closes the front of the chest and draws the shoulder blades apart. The front sits short and the upper back holds on, which is why you feel it between the shoulder blades while the shortened tissue is at the front.
Should you stretch the front or the back of the shoulder?
Mostly the front, if the cause is screen time. The tissue between the shoulder blades is usually already at length, so pulling on it addresses the sensation rather than the geometry.
How do you do a doorway chest stretch properly?
Forearm flat against the frame with the elbow at shoulder height, then rotate your body away from the arm rather than pushing the shoulder forward into the doorway. Pushing forward loads the front of the shoulder joint, which is the part to protect.
Can stretching fix rounded shoulders?
We are not going to tell you it will. What a stretch does is take a joint through range; whether your resting position changes depends on a lot more than stretching, and a professional is the right person to ask about your own.
Do you need a foam roller?
No. All six of these need a doorframe, a wall and a floor at most. Lucy's routines are written to need no equipment at all.
Lucy times each of these and cues the side changes, so you are not counting.