Common shoulder problems and how to fix them
Many common shoulder injuries and impingement syndromes can be very easily fixed by simply using better posture. If you don’t believe me try this. Stand up tall and lift your arms out to your sides and above your head (as if you were trying to fly). This should be easy for the majority of you unless you already have shoulder problems. Now, I want you to stand with your upper back rounded and your head forward as if you were imitating an old person. Now try to lift your arms up from your sides and over your head. You can’t! This is because your shoulders are forward and inwardly rotated which then compresses the shoulder joint when you attempt to raise your arms over your head. Now, if you were to assume a posture half way between this posture and the original one you will probably be able to lift your arms reasonably well above your head. The problem is that unless your posture is very good you are more than likely grinding a tendon called the supraspinatus tendon every time you lift your arms without even knowing it. Its getting damaged each time but not enough to cause you pain. Little by little you do micro damage until one day it’s had enough and you start feeling pain for ‘no apparent reason.’ Each time you reach for something in your cupboards above you, brush and/or your hair, brush your teeth, put the dishes away, close the curtains etc you are grinding that tendon. This is one of the rotator cuff tendons and you have probably heard of people who have had rotator cuff tendonitis or tears and I can promise you if they didn’t have a large trauma to their shoulder many have come from this. Thousands upon thousands of little grinds doing damage bit by bit until one day they feel pain. Now that you know why this can happen you can once again stop it from happening by assuming good posture and stretching out your hips, chest and neck using the lunge, pectoral and neck stretches in this book. Remember though, the stretches are done to loosen your tight muscles but then you must adopt the good postures for this to remain effective. It is no good that you do a few stretches during the day but then spend eight hours slouched over your computer.
A good way to check if your shoulders are rotated inwards you cam check your thumbs.
The vast majority of us are too tight across our chest and in the front of our hips. This is because we spend all day sitting in chairs which shortens our hip flexors which can lead to pain sleeping on our backs or stomach and also even from just standing or walking. It’s normally very easy to fix. However, another problem is that we are too tight in our pectoral muscles and the front of our shoulders. This is because we do all of our work with our arms in front of us. We sit at computers bent forward or drive our cars bent forward, hunched over the steering wheel. We eat our meals with our chins pushed forward, shoulders hunched and all of this leads to chronic tightness in the chest and shoulders. Moreover, the upper back muscles become overly stretched and weak. And if that isn’t enough, many of us with our good intentions go to yoga or Pilates and do crunches, roll up into a ball, bring knees to chest etc which further stretches the muscles that are already overly stretched. We worsen our condition. These are all stretches we almost never need to be doing.
So how do you know if your shoulders are rounded and your chest muscles are too tight? Here’s how:
- Stand up with your arms hanging naturally by your sides. Now look down at your hands.
- Do your thumbs face each other? Guess what, they should be facing forward. What your thumbs are telling you is that your chest muscles are so tight that they are pulling your shoulders forward and turning those inwards.
- Now pull your shoulders back and your thumbs will begin to rotate towards the front. It is probably a little uncomfortable to do this because your pectoral muscles are restricting you.
This is a great way to keep a check on those chest muscles if they are too tight. All you need to do is stretch your chest muscles and the thumbs will start facing more forwards which means you have rotated your shoulders outwards and they will now be drawn back a little bit further.