Shoulders- Very Useful When Functional, Very Painful When Not

Shoulder Anatomy- Click The Picture for More Info

The shoulder: to many, this joint is the source of great mystery and, often, pain. The shoulder joint offers us the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body, but that great mobility comes with a price: greater instability.

Officially classified as a “ball and socket” joint, the shoulder enjoys a great range of motion due to the extremely shallow socket portion that retains the ball portion poorly under certain conditions. The results can be disastrous.

While it can be difficult to avoid shoulder injuries during certain emergency situations (bicycle crashes, for example.) There are many preventative actions you can take to keep your everyday activities (including weightlifting and other intense sports) from doing damage to your most mobile of bodily connections.

If you have 10 minutes to spare, this shoulder rehab video is excellent and covers it all- balancing strength and mobility nicely. It’s not just an instructional video, but more of a “workout video” in that you’re supposed to follow along. It contains video instructions for 5 different shoulder rehab circuits to be performed on 5 different days. Each only takes a couple of minutes but can save many hours (or years) of suffering and weakness. To my clients: see how many of the movements you recognize from our sessions.

Perhaps the best changes i’ve found to make to protect the shoulders is not to “open” them when it isn’t necessary. When performing an overhead db press, for example, hold the dumbbells at a “natural” 45 degree angle to the body rather than straight out to the sides. The same goes when performing db chest presses- hold the dumbbells at a 45 degree angle to the spine instead of perpendicular to it. This keeps the shoulder in a more neutral position (nearer to the center of its range of motion.)  If you have shoulder pain when performing these lifts in the traditional way, try this simple change and see if the pain subsides.

Oh, and don’t work a damaged shoulder joint- they don’t heal if you keep re-injuring them. I know that’s hard to hear, but it’s true.

-W-

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