Improve Your Reaching After Stroke — Simple Strength, Stretch & Setup Tips
Hey Fam!
If you’re struggling to reach for objects after a stroke — whether your arm feels stiff, weak, or just “doesn’t move the way you want it to”, Well this is the subject of this letter.
This week, we’re focusing on the three key parts of reaching, the muscles that usually weaken after a stroke, and the exercises you can start at home to rebuild smoother, more controlled movement.
🧠 Understanding How Reaching Works (3 Simple Steps)
Whenever you reach for anything — a cup, a remote, a phone — your arm goes through three phases:
1. Transport Phase
This is where your shoulder and elbow move the arm forward or outward.
Weakness here makes the arm feel heavy or awkward, causing overuse of the hand or trunk instead.
2. Pre-Shaping Phase
Your wrist and fingers start to open or adjust for the object.
When this is weak, the hand stays closed, stiff, or slow to react.
3. Grasping Phase
You close your hand around the object.
This phase becomes harder when the shoulder is weak because the hand over-works to compensate.
By understanding which phase is affected, you can train more purposefully.
💪 Key Strengthening Exercises (Home-Friendly)
After a stroke, several muscle groups become underactive.
Here are simple strengthening drills you can start right away:
✔ Shoulder Protraction Strengthening (Pain-Free)
Sit or stand with good posture
Gently push your shoulder blade forward
Small, controlled movements, high repetitions
This improves the ability to move your arm forward smoothly.
✔ Wrist Extension Training
Rest forearm on a table
Lift hand upward slowly
High repetitions, low resistance
This improves pre-shaping and helps the hand open with better control.
✔ Supported Forward Reach Practice
Use your stronger hand to guide the weak arm
Reach toward a safe target
Return slowly
This teaches the shoulder to initiate movement again without hand overcompensation.
🧘 Stretching to Reduce Tightness
Tightness in the shoulder, elbow, and wrist is extremely common after stroke.
You can use simple contract–relax techniques:
Shoulder stretch
Gently push into resistance → hold → relax
Let the muscle lengthen more easily.
Elbow stretch
Use the stronger hand to straighten the affected arm gradually.
Wrist stretch
Support forearm, gently stretch wrist backward.
These calm stiffness and make movement smoother.
🏠 Environmental Setup Tips
Many reaching problems come from the arm being forced to work against gravity too soon.
Try this:
✔ Keep objects closer
✔ Keep them at chest or table height
✔ Use a towel or slider under the arm to reduce friction
This reduces hand overactivity and encourages proper shoulder activation.
Take a look at this video for more information:
And once again, thank you and I will see you guys in the next newsletter :)
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With kindness,
BP