Top 6 Exercises for Managing Shoulder Injuries
What to Do for an Injured Shoulder
I give my athletes, from beginners to Olympians, 6 common exercises to help them prevent nagging injuries around life and training. Most of these exercises look at one of these key principles:
Strengthening the Lower Traps
Often neck and shoulder pain comes from an imbalance between upper and lower trapezius The lower trapezius should be the primary agonist once the arm is raised above 60° but is often neglected in favor of the upper traps.
Building the Infraspinatus
This muscle should be responsible for the first stage of raising the arm, but in athletes with poor mobility it is often trapped, and doesn’t properly generate force when lifting the arm overhead. This is the muscle that is often ‘pinched’ in the shoulders due to being weak and having an overzealous upper trap. Simply strengthening it can help avoid trapped nerves and numbing sensations down the arm.
Working on Functional Redundancy of the Upper Traps
”Overactive” upper traps can cause all sorts of issues, pathologically as well as in terms of performance, even leading to increased concussion risks and migraines. Effective training of deep cervical tissues can help prevent and fix this.
1) Supinated Grip Cable Machine Rows
This is a great exercise for focussing on shoulder blade retraction under constant load and is easier to mitigate for grip strength than a chin up (which are also excellent).
- Palms facing upwards.
- Lean forward to allow for shoulder blades to slide forward, pull them down and back as you row.
- Push your elbows backwards like you’re ‘trying to unhook your bra’, for those of us that know about such things.
Check out this demo video of IRONMAN athlete Kloe Gibson as we incorporated the exercise into her program to help with postural efficiency for her sport.
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