Shoulder Stretches

A shoulder stretch exercise is a great thing to perform a few times for muscular tension release throughout your work day to prevent stiffness and soreness in the neck and upper body area. When we sit sedentary in a fixed position for so long it is not uncommon to become tense. If you were stop right now and consciously think of relaxing your shoulders, likely they would drop slightly. This goes to show that even just sitting there you are holding muscular tension. A shoulder stretch will make you aware of this muscular tension more often and help release it.

One simple shoulder stretch to perform is reaching your arms above your head, clasping your hands and then gently pulling backwards. This will stretch the frontal and lateral head of the muscle as well as your upper back and latissimus muscle.

Another easy one to perform is shrugging this body part up as close to the ears as you can, holding for a moment and then releasing while thinking of pressing down and back (shoulder blades together). This will get the blood flowing to the muscles, increasing oxygen delivery and relieving any tightness you might be experiencing.

The last exercise to do is started by standing with your side to the wall. Next place your arm against the wall so it is directly in front of you, the outside portion of the arm in complete contact with the wall. Begin twisting the body ever so slightly until you feel a pull in the lateral portion of the muscle. Note that you likely won’t be able to twist very far but it should be enough to improve flexibility and relax this area of the body. If you can manage to move so that your stomach is nearing the wall (so your whole arm is still against it but your body is now rotated), that would demonstrate a very good range of motion. If you can’t, this would be the goal you want to work towards.

So be sure to complete a few of these movements throughout your workday whenever you think of them. Additionally, they are great to perform at the end of your workout as part of your overall cool-down.

Shoulder exercises

As it is a major muscle group in the body, shoulder exercise is essential if you want to get a complete body workout. The great thing about shoulder exercise is that it is very transferable to the rest of your life as the vast majority of sports will use this muscle. Tennis, squash, badminton, hockey, basketball, gymnastics and golf are just a few of the examples that would be included. Unfortunately, many of these activities also lead to injuries in this body part, making gaining strength even more important.

What you need to remember when performing shoulder exercise is that for most movements you don’t let the arms go past ninety degrees. This is to ensure you are not putting too much strain on the ligaments when lifting a heavier weight. The one exception to this would be the military press where you begin with the hands around neck height. Lateral raises and frontal raises in particular though are ones to really watch out for as they place the muscle in a weaker position to begin with.

Don’t forget about your rotator cuff either when performing movements for this muscle group, as it plays a very important role as well. Side lying, bent-arm rotations are an excellent movement to challenge it without placing too much stress on it that you risk severely injuring yourself. Just be sure to start out with a light weight, maybe even just two pounds, until you are used to the movement.

Lastly if you do feel pain whenever performing any of the lifting movements ensure that you stop immediately. This muscle contains so many ligaments and tendons it becomes very easy to throw it out of place or strain one of them. That could leave you sidelined for quite some time so avoid it altogether if you can. Pain is a signal that you are using improper form or too much weight so look after those two factors right away.

Shoulder

One of the easily injured areas of the body is the shoulder. The shoulder is composed of a variety of ligaments, tendons and muscles, which are collectively known as the ‘rotator cuff’. Those who are involved in racket sports, baseball or softball, or even just do a lot of strength training exercises or movements that use the shoulder joint, often find themselves suffering from a rotator cuff injury.

Since the shoulder has such a wide range of motion and needs to be flexible in adapting, it is quite easy for it to become dislocated as well. This is a very painful process and usually medical help is needed in order to resolve it.

Usually as we age the risk of suffering from a rotator cuff injury often increases so it is increasingly important to start performing strengthening exercises for it now rather than waiting for later. Prevention is always the better choice when it comes to your health.

The signs and symptoms that you might have dislocated your shoulder or are experiencing a rotator cuff injury are obviously pain in the shoulder, particularly when you are reaching overhead, behind your back or pulling on an object, a general sense of weakness in the shoulder and the loss of your range of motion. Some people experience the pain so intensely that even simply raising a glass to their mouth will cause them discomfort. If you are experiencing any of these signs, it is critical that you rest the shoulder as much as possible and see a physiotherapist or sports injury doctor. They should be able to correctly diagnose the problem and lead you in the right path to recovery.

So don’t take the health of this part of your body for granted. When it becomes injured it can be extremely debilitating and will really alter your lifestyle.

Shoulder Girdle Stretch

Performing a shoulder girdle stretch on a regular basis is a great way to prevent injury and to prepare for physical activity. It’s always important to warm-up before doing any activity so you can get more blood flowing to the muscles and to relieve any joint stiffness. Shoulder girdle stretch exercises are particularly important because this joint in particular is prone to having problems if you play a lot of racket sports such as tennis or squash.

One of the best shoulder girdle stretch exercises to perform is simply done standing with your back towards a wall, feet about half a foot away. Next slightly bend the knees and put the arms with the back towards the wall, elbows at the side. Begin pushing the deltoids and arms into the wall while slowly raising the arms above the head as high as possible. Once they have reached above the head, lower them back down to the start and repeat once again. While it may not seem like this movement does all that much, because it a dynamic exercise some muscles will be contracting while others are relaxing. You might not feel it as much as a more passive movement but the results will still be noticeable.

Another easy exercise to do is to lay on the floor with your arms out to the side. Next, take one arm and cross it over the body so that it moves as close to the other arm as possible. While doing so, try as hard as you can to keep both parts of your back flat against the floor. If you begin to see the same side as the arm that’s crossed over lift up, you’ve likely moved the arm too far for your abilities. Take it back slightly until you are sure your full back is on the floor.

So don’t neglect these two movements from your routine. They really only take a minute or two to perform but could mean the difference between you continuing to play or becoming sidelined.

Shoulder Girdle Exercise

Since it is one of the easiest body parts to injure, performing regular shoulder girdle exercise is very important if you want to keep up with your active lifestyle. When performing shoulder girdle exercises, you must keep in mind the current state of your muscle strength. This is one area you do not want to over push since there are so many tendons and ligaments related to it. If you over tax any of these you could risk serious damage so it is a good idea to error on the cautious side.

One very good shoulder girdle exercise to perform is a plate raise. To do this all you need to do is simply take a 10 to 15 lb weighted plate (it can be heavier depending on your current strength, this would be a good place to start though) and then holding it with hands on either side, lift it directly up in front of you. If you currently have pain in this area of the body, only lift to your shoulder height at maximum. If you are pain free you can go further, just be sure no pain is felt.

A second good strengthening activity to perform is a sideways rotation. To do this one, tie the end of a rubber tube to a stationary object that is about chest height (a pole works best). Then grasp the other end with the hand that is away from the wall so that there is enough tension that the tube is taut. Next slowly pull the tubing across the body in the outwards direction until the hand has now completed a 180 degree rotation. After doing so return to the starting position to complete one rep. Perform eight to fifteen more times before switching hands and repeating on the other side.

These are just two of the basic movements that you can perform in a prevention or rehabilitation program. If you are prone to injury in this area of the body or are particularly interested in strengthening it, you may also wish to make an appointment with a sports trainer or physiotherapist as they will likely be able to offer you many more options.

Shoulder girdle workouts

The shoulder girdle workouts are best created when understanding the joint that most likely would be considered to have the largest range of motion in the body. This joint is made up of a variety of bones, ligaments and tendons and is often house to a variety of injuries due to the fact that it quite often moves beyond its range of motion.

So when creating the shoulder girdle workouts the structure has such a wide range of movement, it is forced to give up some of the stability it would normally have. It is a ball-and-socket joint that has one strong ligament holding it together called the coracohumeral ligament. This helps to support the weight of the upper arm.

There are three main bones that comprise the shoulder girdle. The first one is the clavicle, which lies above the thorax and articulates medially with the sternum. It is the long bone that is often known as the ‘collarbone’.

Just below this is the wide flat bone called the scapula. This bone forms a large part of this joint and articulates with the humerus and clavicle. Located on it is your often-called ’shoulder bone’.

Lastly, comes the humerus, which most people know as the main arm bone that lies directly above your elbow.

To avoid getting injured in this area of the body, always ensure you are performing a short cardiovascular session before any lifting or straining activities to increase the range of motion and get the blood flowing through the joint and muscles. After the exercise session has taken place, also perform some simple stretches as a cool down to aid in the reduction of tight muscles and ligaments.

Swimmers are some of the most frequent athletes to experience problems so they may want to start adding some easy shoulder rolls and shrugs to their warm-up before getting into the pool. While they definitely will have strong muscles from all the rotating movements they do their ligaments can easily become over worked.

So make sure you take necessary precautions to reduce injury to this area of the body. With so many bones, ligaments and muscles involved, if one becomes painful it is likely that others will experience problems as well.

Shoulder workouts

Developing shoulder workouts can be aimed at rehab or deltoids growth. There are many components that make up the shoulder muscle. Structurally, they are often referred to as your ‘deltoids’ and consist of three different heads.

To plan shoulder workouts understand the geometry, first there is the anterior head, which is located directly on the front of the bone closest to the collarbone.

It runs from the collarbone down to where your biceps attach about midway down your upper arm. The anterior deltoid portion of the shoulder muscle will be responsible for any movements where you are lifting something directly up in front of you. It is also going to play a role when you push an object over your head.

After that you have the medial deltoid. This part of the shoulder muscle sits on the side of your arms and is what forms the ‘cap’ that you often hear body builders referring to. Developing this part of the body will give you a really nice rounded appearance to the arm.

The role it plays is the performing of any abduction movements (moving the arm away from the body).

Lastly there is the rear or posterior deltoid that sits on the back of the arm, below the trapezius. It is the smaller of the three heads and is mostly going to perform any extension movements or external rotation of the scapula. Ensuring this body part is strong is a great way to help prevent a rotator cuff injury so even though it’s small, make sure you do not forget about it.

General exercises to perform are the military press or an overhead dumbbell press. This will call all three heads into play at once. In addition to that, you may choose to target in on the individual heads by doing lateral and frontal raises, as well as reverse flyes. As long as you are doing a few major exercises though you can rest assured that this body part will be getting a good workout.