Shoulder Mobility
SHOULDER MOBILITY || Today we are going to go over some ways to improve shoulder mobility & health. Shoulders are already at higher risk for injury or symptoms to arise compared to other joints. It is the most unstable joint in the body, think of it as a golf ball on a golf tee. We rely on the muscles & ligaments to stabilize this joint. However, through our daily activities when easily begin to lose good mobility in our shoulders. Slowly but surely your shoulder blades begin to rise from chronic tension in traps & levator, weakness in the blade depressors. Your shoulders begin to internally rotate, making it harder for your shoulder to properly stabilize. Before you know it - pain has arrived.
Mobility Exercise - Pectorals → Corner or doorway stretch. Raise both arms up on the side & place elbows on the wall or doorway, elbows a little below shoulder level & forearms + palms flat on the wall. Keeping your body in one straight line lean fwd until you feel a nice stretch in your chest.
Mobility Exercise - Rotator Cuff → Aka, the sleeper stretch. Begin by laying on your side, directly on your shoulder & with your neck supported. Lay your arm out directly perpendicular & in line with shoulder on the floor. Bend the arm up at the elbow, facing the palm towards the feet. Keeping your wrist + fingers in one straight line with forearm, use other hand to press the palm towards the floor. Press on the backside of the forearm bones as to not stress your wrist. Stop when you feel a good stretch in the back of your shoulder. Do not press into pain.
Mobility Exercises → Hold for 3 breath cycles, in through the nose & out through the mouth. Release and repeat 2-3x, multiple times in a day.
Strengthening Exercise - Scapular Depressions + Hang → Find a chin up bar that allows your palms to be facing towards each other. For a hang, it’s pretty simple - you just grab the bars & hang. You don’t want any swinging or movement during the hang. You should work up to holding on for 45-60 sec. This is also a great exercise for the endurance in your forearms + grip strength. This is great for decompressing & stretching out the muscles of the shoulder complex - wonderful for impingement patients. For scapular depressions, setup like you did for a hang. Keeping the arms straight, lift up the body + depress the shoulder blades onto the back. Hold for 1-2 sec at the top, release & repeat 10-12x. Exhaling as you rise & inhaling as your lower down.
