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.