Quadruped shoulder circles are done on your hands and knees. Both hands stay planted on the floor while you move your upper body slowly in a circle over them: forward, across to one side, back, across to the other side, then the other way round. The shoulders carry part of your weight as they move, so the muscles that hold the shoulder blade and the shoulder joint steady have to work the whole time. The app title calls it shoulder circumduction.

How to do the quadruped shoulder circles

Come onto all fours on a mat, hands straight below your shoulders and knees below your hips. A folded towel under the knees helps if kneeling is uncomfortable.
Spread your fingers on the mat, straighten your elbows without locking them, and keep your back flat with your eyes on the floor.
Leave both hands where they are and move your upper body slowly forward, so your shoulders pass just in front of your hands, then carry on across toward one side.
Keep going round: back until your shoulders sit a little behind your hands, across to the other side, and forward again. Your shoulders trace a small, smooth circle above your hands.
Do your circles in one direction, then the same number in the other direction.

What you should feel

Steady effort around both shoulder blades and shoulders as your weight travels across your hands, with pressure through the palms and wrists. Your back and neck should stay relaxed.

Common mistakes

Bending the elbows or letting the chest sag down between the shoulders.
Rounding or arching the lower back to make the circle look bigger.
Rocking back so far that your hips sink toward your heels.
Rushing, so your weight lurches from one hand to the other.

How often

Many programs use 5 to 10 slow circles in each direction, repeated 2 or 3 times, once a day or a few days a week. Your physio will adjust this, including how big the circles should be.

Stop and check with your physio if

Your shoulder or wrist catches or hurts sharply as your weight moves over it.
The shoulder starts to feel loose or wobbly, as if it might slip out.
Pain, pins and needles or numbness spreading down your arm or into your hand.
Pins and needles in your arm or hand that do not go away after you stop, or part of your arm or hand goes numb. Get medical advice the same day. If one side of your face or body suddenly goes numb or weak, or your speech becomes slurred or muddled, call emergency services, even if it goes away.
A sudden pop or tearing feeling in the shoulder that brings sharp pain, new weakness or trouble lifting the arm. Stop and contact your surgical team the same day, or get medical advice the same day if you have not had surgery.
The shoulder feels as if it has slipped out of place, looks a different shape or suddenly locks so you cannot move the arm, or your hand turns cold, pale or blue. Go to an emergency department straight away, without driving yourself, and do not try to put the shoulder back in yourself.

From the clinic

In the voice guide, one arm lifts off the floor and circles in the air. The video keeps both hands on the mat the whole time and circles the body over them, so the steps here follow the video. Start with small circles and let them grow only while the shoulder blades stay flat on your back. If you have high blood pressure, breathe steadily through every repetition and never hold your breath.

Putting weight through the hands like this often comes after the standing weight shift onto the hands at a counter, where your feet take most of the load. The quadruped scapular push up uses the same starting position, with the shoulder blades sliding together and apart instead. If flat hands make your wrists sore, holding push-up handles lets the wrists stay straighter.

After shoulder surgery, including a rotator cuff repair, or after a shoulder fracture or dislocation, follow your surgeon's or physio's plan, and do only the movements and range they have cleared. Many plans allow only passive movement at first, where the arm is moved for you and its muscles stay relaxed. Circling over your hands puts part of your body weight through the arm, so check with them that it is ready for that. After a broken wrist, hand or forearm, or surgery on any of them such as a tendon repair, start only when your doctor, surgeon, physio or hand therapist says the bone or repair is ready for this, and follow their plan for how much to do.

If you have had a hip or knee replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon or physio before you try quadruped shoulder circles. Some operations limit this kind of work for the first months, so the timing depends on your surgery. A new knee can stay sore to kneel on for many months, and a thick cushion under it may make this position easier.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Quadruped shoulder circles