Forward shoulders and cross-body stretch

[Michael Pettigrew]

Hi all,

 

I have very forward shoulders resulting in a lot of impingement. I've done a lot of research on which muscles to strengthen and which to stretch to fix this up. I have a question about the standard cross-body stretch that stretches the back of the shoulder. Is this a good stretch to move the shoulders back? I can't seem to visualize how that would work - how does loosening the posterior shoulder capsule allow the shoulders to move back. Shouldn't you want to tighten it up?

 

Don't the shoulders being chronically forward keep what you're stretching in the cross-body stretch already very loose?

 

I've been told to strengthen the rear delts as well, which again seems opposite to what the cross-body stretch does.

 

Thanks!