Fix That Cranky Shoulder (Part 2)
As the world is going to end on Friday (that is,according to the Mayans), I thought this would be as great a time as any topost my 2nd article in the “cranky shoulder series.” If you missed it, or blatantly ignored myblog for a while, you can click here for the introductory part 1.
Now that we’ve established good breathing patternsand reduced the “tone” of the muscles in your upper body in the last post, it’stime to really work on getting that mobility back through active exercises.
Below are three different videos you can try to fixyour shoulder movement patterns. There’sno need to do all three if you have bad shoulders, and instead, you need tofigure out which one works best for you. No two people are built the same way, and as a result, what cures onemay not necessarily work for the other.
First up is a simple one, and as you’ll see in thevideo, my hand is directly under my shoulder and my butt is on my heels. You need to look up at the ceiling and exhalewhen you get to the top, as you’re trying to get just a little bit further witheach rotation. As with the other videos I’ve posted below, this drill istrying to undo all the forward-shoulder postures that everyone with a desk jobsits in for 8-10 hours a day.
On this next one, I’m essentially trying to do the samething but you’ll note that my set up is different. My leg on the floor is extended straight out,while the leg on top is on a foam roller. Start by taking a deep breath, and once again I’m following my hand withmy eyes, making sure I rotate through my upper back. When I get to my sticking point, I exhale andI’m able to get just a bit more range of motion. Ideally, I’d also use something to support mynoggin', but I didn’t have anything that was sanitary enough to do that job (andfeel free to note the slow moving green line car in the background):
Finally, we have a variation of the one above, but I’mjust putting my arm through a different range of motion. Once again, I take a deep belly breath andexhale as I get to that sticking point. Also, you can laugh at my awkward 3-4 pulses with my arm when I wasn’tsure if we were taping…
As I said in my first post in the series, its toughto know where the actual problem lies when someone complains about their shoulder. You need to try a variety of these exercises, and play around with what works best for you.
After you’re done with your mobility work, you’ll need to “lock in”that new range of motion with some stability, as that's our only chance to keep those gains. Think of it as watching a stockyou own climb higher and higher, only failing to sell that stock and realize yourgains as it plummets back down to pennies. So....how do you lock in those gains? Well check back here in the next week or twofor part 3!