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May 2015 E-Newsletter
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Greetings From Our Director
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 Welcome to our May E-Newsletter!
This monthly publication is always focused on YOU, your questions and your interests, and this edition is all about your Shoulders! Your shoulder is the most flexible -- and arguably the most complex joint in the human body. The shoulder's function is to provide your arm with an extensive number of movements and positions, while simultaneously maintaining as much stability in the area as possible for pushing, pulling, and lifting. To orchestrate all of these things, your shoulders employ about 15 different muscles, many tendons and ligaments (which often run right through the functional joint area), and more! Since the shoulder must at times compromise stability for the sake of movement and flexibility, you can face a large number of shoulder problems, such as impingement/pinching, tears, and dislocations which aren't as common with other simpler joints.
In this month's newsletter, we've focused on bringing you some very practical and very quick exercises and stretches that can be done with minimal equipment to help you to build shoulder strength and avoid shoulder injury as effectively as possible. Building strength and flexibility in your shoulders -- while utilizing proper exercise form -- is the single-most important thing you can do to prevent shoulder injuries.
As always, we’re truly and sincerely here for you, to help you improve upon your health and fitness goals for 2015 and beyond! We hope you enjoy the information. If you have any questions, concerns, or want additional information about these or other topics, reach out to us on social media (links below) via private or public message and we’ll get right back to you! Please always reach out to us before performing any exercise for which you have concerns or questions about proper form, application, or which you feel may be exacerbating any symptoms you have. Cheers to your healthy shoulders!
Coming in next month’s E-Newsletter: Women's Health & Fitness. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for even more great content, and to share your questions and interests. We care and we're listening!
In Health,
Jessica Dorrington, PT, MPT, OCS, CMPT, CSCS
Director of Physical Therapy
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Improve You Posture & Shoulder Health in Under 30 seconds (Movement #3 is Excellent!)
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We know that no one really likes to be corrected on their posture, but the habitual position of your neck and shoulder blades can really play a big role in the development of shoulder dysfunctions.
Here’s a quick posture check that will take you about 30 seconds, can ease both shoulder and neck pain, and help you to avoid injury. You can do this in sitting or standing, and check out the picture for clarity!
1. Check in with your neck and chin. “Forward head posture,” often caused by lots of computer and phone screen time, can lead to your shoulder blades migrating forward. Try to align your chin with your sternum or breastbone or as close as your body will allow.
2. Elongate the back of your neck and do a slight chin “tuck” to ensure a neutral neck position.
3. Check in with your mid or thoracic spine, the portion right between your shoulder blades. If your shoulder blades are not set properly — in a back and slightly down position — on your spine, it will not only tighten the front of the shoulders, but it will also lengthen the muscles that support the shoulder blade to a point where they function poorly, often leading to dysfunction and injury. Do you find yourself rounding forward? Try sitting up a little, with your shoulder blades sitting back and slightly down, without sticking your ribcage forward.
Lastly, do 5 shoulder rolls in the backwards direction. On the last one, “set” the shoulder blades back and down, and smile all day knowing your posture looks excellent!
IMAGE SOURCE: Paul Chek, “Fig. 1,” C.H.E.K. L3 Manual
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The Glorious "Pec Stretch"
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We Bet You Can't Dislike This One!
Tight pectoral muscles can cause pain in your neck, shoulders, and back, so today we’re going to teach you a simple, easy stretch that feels amazing, can help limit these pains, and even potentially make your posture better!
This exercise definitely works best on a dense foam roll — you can come come by and use one of ours at the clinic anytime! — but this can also be done on a tightly rolled up blanket or similar.
Lay your spine directly on top of the foam roll, and make sure you are fully and completely supported from your head all the way down your back to the tail bone throughout the exercise. Allow your shoulder blades to sink down around the foam roll. Lying on the foam roll like this will allow your shoulders and pectorals to stretch back in to a more anatomically correct position as well as provide soft tissue mobilization to structures in the back.
With arms bent (as seen in the pictures) and relaxed so gravity is doing the downward pulling, move your arms toward your head and back. The actual movement looks a lot like making snow angels, but it is important that your elbows don’t touch the ground, unless the stretch is too intense to do without elbows touching the floor. When you find a tight area, you can stop and rest in that position for 30 seconds, but be careful not to overstretch: the maximum intensity of the stretch, on a scale of 1-10, should be about a 7.
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Shoulder Flexion/Scaption
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How would you like to safely strengthen your injured shoulder, or prevent shoulder injury altogether?
This exercise, technically a mix between shoulder flexion (in front of body) and scaption (to the sides), works many, many of the muscles around the shoulder and can really help you strengthen your shoulder while still greatly preventing new or further injury! This is one of those beautiful exercises that can be great for those with injury (use no or light weights), those looking for toned shoulders (use light weight, high repetition), and those looking for more mass (use heavier weight, lower reps). Not only that, but this exercise is helpful for not only the shoulder muscles, but the other muscles that surround and support the shoulder.
Click to view Shoulder Flexion/Scaption exercise instructions >
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The Push-Up Plus: Your Exercise for Naturally Amazing Posture
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Many of us have tried at times to improve our posture over the course of a day, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could do this without having to think about it all the time? Well this exercise will help!
This movement is called the Push-Up Plus. Begin in a normal, neutral push-up position — or alternately, on your knees or leaning with your hands on a counter-top for an easier exercise — and be sure to keep a straight line running from your toes to the top of your head, with your head and neck in a comfortable position. To start the exercise, round out your back by trying to push your spine, the part right between your shoulder blades, toward the ceiling. Hold for 2 seconds, then relax back down (stop rounding out your back) and instead bring your shoulder blades together. Repeat this for 10-15 repetitions at a time.
f you need to make this easier, do the exercise on your hands and knees rather than hands and feet. If you’d like some increased difficulty, add a normal push-up to each / between each repetition!
This exercise involves the muscles: serratus anterior, lower trapezius, and rotator cuff muscles, and this movement can be helpful for improving: improper posture, abnormal shoulder blade movements, general shoulder weakness, and shoulder impingement.
Click to view exercise video demonstration >
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