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.