Considerations for Shoulder Health

The human shoulder is arguably if not the worst designed joint in the human body, however not entirely by its own fault. The human shoulder as we know it today is still designed to accommodate humans walking on all fours with limited ability to perform overhead movements in a violent repeated fashion. If any of you have played golf before when it is windy you would know that sometimes it can be difficult to tee up your ball. Not to unlike the golf ball and tee is the human shoulder, it can be very unstable if certain factors are present (windy) such as lack of strength, strength imbalances, immobility etc. Referring back to golf, if your ball is wobbly on the tee your drive is going to be erratic at best. The shoulder is the exact same way, if you have a wobbly joint your activities will either be unsuccessful or painful neither of which is ideal for any overhead athlete.

Shoulder stability by definition is the ability contract muscles on either side of the joint to hold the humerus in the socket and allow the rest of the arm and hand to perform tasks accurately ie. throw a baseball, swing a tennis racket, serve a volleyball etc. However stability is only half the battle when it comes to shoulder health in the overhead athlete, the other half is mobility. Your body needs to be able to move properly to perform all of its desired functions, unfortunately with many sedentary jobs or certain repeated tasks at school or work we tend to lose our requisite mobility for the body to perform certain actions. Let’s start at the spine and the mid back region also known as T-spine or Thoracic Spine. Our mid back needs to be able to flex and extend (forward bend/backward bend) as well as bend side to side with little to no issue for everything else to work as it should. As we move outward our scapula (shoulder blade) needs to be able to elevate and depress along the rib cage without deviating too far from the rib cage like the wings of a bird. If the scapula elevates too much it begins to round the shoulder forward causing tension on the structures of the front of the shoulder such as the biceps, pec and anterior deltoid. When those structures get flared up the joint begins to hurt, and if the stress is continuous over a long period of time tendonitis can begin to form in which case the cure is to stop all activities that may cause such irritation. Long story short most shoulder ailments are preventable if the athlete is willing to take the time to warm up properly and perform a proper mobility circuit and proper mechanics are achieved.

The implementation of a proper mobility routine paired with appropriate and effective stability exercises and mix in a little strength training when the athlete is ready is a perfect recipe for shoulder health. If the body can move how it is designed to and the proper mechanics are taught for whatever skill the athlete is learning, optimum performance can be achieved.