Online physical therapy · Shoulder Pain
Work one-on-one with a physical therapist by video and follow a plan built for your shoulder, at home, without the drive to a clinic.
Some shoulder pain needs a medical exam the same day. Go to urgent care or the emergency room if your shoulder pain comes with:
If anything like this comes up during your plan, your physical therapist will tell you to get it checked.
A short follow-along exercise from Dr. Alex, the kind our shoulder plans start with. We’ll email it to you right away.
Physical therapy for shoulder pain is mostly exercise and advice on how to use your arm for now, and both can be done by video. Your plan usually moves through four stages.
Movement your shoulder tolerates, positions that ease the ache, and changes to how you sleep, reach and lift for now.
Lifting your arm, reaching behind your back and across your body, a little further each week.
Your rotator cuff and the muscles around your shoulder blade, so your arm can handle lifting, carrying and reaching overhead.
Overhead work, your sport or the garden. Then a routine you can keep on your own, so you're not starting over at the next flare.
At your first visit (the Body Assessment), your physical therapist asks how the pain started and what makes it better or worse, then watches you move by video: raising your arm to the front and side, reaching behind your back, turning your head. Shoulder pain sometimes starts in the neck, so your neck and upper back get checked too. A physical therapist doesn’t diagnose disease; what we find is which movements your shoulder tolerates now, which it doesn’t yet, and how to build from one to the other.
Often after a lot of reaching, lifting or overhead work. For painful shoulders and rotator cuff issues
A pinch at the top of the shoulder when you raise your arm, often tied to how the shoulder blade and rotator cuff work together.
A shoulder that slowly loses movement and gets stiff and painful, sometimes over months.
Some pain felt in the shoulder starts higher up, which is why your therapist checks there too.
Rounded shoulders and long sitting load the front of the shoulder. Where's your butt in that chair?
Throwing, swimming, racket sports, painting a ceiling or a job with a lot of lifting.
Many shoulder strains and sore rotator cuffs improve over several weeks once the load is right and you keep the arm moving. A stiff or frozen shoulder, pain that has lasted for months, or pain that keeps coming back usually takes longer, and that’s where a structured plan helps most.
Your 8-week plan starts from where you are and changes at every check-in. Every shoulder is different, so we won’t promise a timeline, but we will tell you honestly what we see.
Want to start today? Try this: Strengthen the muscles that protect your shoulder
$489 for 8 weeks, about $61 a week
No referral needed. HSA and FSA accepted. Less than the cost of two traditional clinic visits.
Step 1
Talk about what hurts and what you want to get back to.
Step 2
30 minutes by video, from home, in clothes you can move in.
Step 3
Daily exercises in the app, starting the next day.
Step 4
Short video visits whenever something changes.
Dr. Alex is the physical therapist behind motivPT. He works with you by video, watches how you move, and adjusts your plan as you go. Meet Dr. Alex
For most shoulder pain, the treatment is exercise and education, and both can be delivered by video. Your therapist watches you move on camera, adjusts each exercise and changes the plan as you improve.
No referral is needed. Start with a free 15-minute consult.
Yes. motivPT accepts HSA and FSA cards.
Most shoulder programs start with a wall, a table and the weight of your own arm. Your plan includes a FitKit with the equipment it needs.
Many people with rotator cuff pain do well with physical therapy. Your therapist adjusts the plan to how your shoulder responds and will tell you if something needs a doctor first.
Lying on the sore side presses on the shoulder, and a sore shoulder often aches after hours in one position. Your therapist shows you sleeping positions that take the load off while your plan builds strength.
Resting a sore shoulder completely tends to leave it stiffer. Gentle movement at a level that doesn't flare the pain is usually better, and your therapist shows you where that level is.
Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Who we help: adults 60 and older · families helping a parent · recovery after surgery
Book a free 15-minute consult. We’ll ask what’s going on and tell you honestly whether online PT is a good fit.
Seeing patients in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
