Posts Tagged "rotator cuff problems"

Rotator cuff problems and the shoulder blade link

Posted by mark in Neck Pain quick tips | 0 comments

Unless this is the first ever blog post of mine that you are reading you should be well aware that good posture both in standing and sitting is essential for neck and shoulder health.

If you are slouching your thoracic spine is hunched forwards, your neck is in a protracted position (head forward position) and then this leads to muscle imbalances and pain. In short, your chest muscles become too tight as do your frontal neck muscles and the opposing muscles become too long and weak. This leads to your shoulder blades rounding around your rib cage getting further away from each other at the spine. If you can imagine that the distance between your two shoulder blades should be about three inches apart from each other, well they literally drift apart making that space further as you keep hunching forwards at your computers, steering wheels, eating your breakfast etc.

What’s the problem with having my shoulder blades drifting apart?

So now you have your shoulder blades getting further away from each other which means the muscles that should hold them in their place are getting lengthened and weaker and the muscles in front of your chest are getting shorter and tighter (the opposing muscles). This is where things get messy for your shoulders. For a moment let’s forget about the problems slouching does to your muscles, ligaments and discs in your lower back and necks and let’s just keep focused on your shoulders themselves. If your back is now rounded making your chest too tight this also pulls your shoulder inwards. They are now rotated too far inwards(internally)! Now you are looking at a head on collision with your humerous (arm bone) mashing your rotator cuff tendons.

A quick test to see if your shoulders are rotated inwards

A very easy way to check is to stand with your arms at your sides. Now look down at your thumbs. Do they point forwards or point inwards at each other? They should be pointing towards the front. If they are pointing more towards each other, or worse, you are looking at the backs of your hands when standing there and your thumbs point sideways towards your midline, your shoulders are too tight and rotated inwards.

What to do to help your internally rotated shoulders

So now you know that your shoulders are inwardly(internally) rotated which means your chest muscles are too tight which means that your shoulder blades will more than likely have been pulled too far apart which means problems for your shoulders! At least 90% of shoulder problems will have problems with the shoulder blades, they are vital for good shoulder mechanics. So to help this problem we need to stretch the tight muscles and strengthen the weakened ones to get good balance again.

You need to start stretching out your chest muscles, both pectoralis major and minor and strengthening your middle back and shoulder external rotators. It makes sense really doesn’t it? Your shoulders are too far internally rotated which means that the internal rotators are too tight and shortened leaving your external rotators too long and weakened.

Therefore, stretch your pec. muscles and do the ‘I’ve got no money’ exercise.

The ‘I’ve got no money’ exercise

Here is a great exercise to strengthen the middle back and external rotators of the shoulder to get those shoulders working better again.

Stand upright with your arms by your sides and now bend your elbows with your palms face up as if you were about to carry a large tray. Have the insides of your elbows locked against your ribs. Stand tall and retract and depress your shoulder blades. In other words, before you start the exercise you want to contact your shoulder blades ‘down and back’. A nice way to think of this is imagine that you have a pencil between your shoulder blades that you want to keep in place with your shoulder blades. Make sure you are not shrugging your shoulder blades though! The motion is ‘down and back’ not ‘lifting up and back’. Now that you have put your shoulder blades in good position you start by rotating your hands away from each other to the sides but keep your elbows on your ribcage! Then return to where your palms are back in front of you again as if you are holding a tray.

Do this 6-8 times 3-4 times a day. Remember that once you have stretched your chest muscles and done this exercise you should then attempt to sit and stand in good posture throughout your day in everything that you do. Three minutes of exercises a day will do little to help you if you spend 10 hours a day of slouching at the computer!

rotator cuff problems and how to fix them

Posted by mark in Uncategorized |

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.