“Shoulder Stabilizers – Activation & Strengthening”

Ken Dobberpuhl, CPT, MAT

Most of us are familiar with the term “rotator cuff” and if you’ve injured or torn it you are painfully aware of how many activities it can limit. The shoulder is our most mobile joint in terms of range of motion. You certainly wouldn’t ask your knee to perform in a similar manner. Unfortunately because the shoulder has this wonderful range of motion it gives up some stability. This is where the rotator cuff comes in consisting of four small muscles (names released upon request). Their primary function is to keep the head of the humerus (long arm bone) up into the joint capsule. When we receive a trauma one or more of these muscles might become strained or torn. If we have poor posture resulting in forward rounded shoulders we might not suffer a tear but we can develop a muscle tension imbalance between these muscles. If you imagine a tall pole with four guy wires each with the same tension allowing the pole to remain in a vertical position. Now imagine that you loosen or cut one of the guy wires, the stability of the pole is now compromised. The rotators generally are pulling down on the humerus while the deltoids are pulling the humerus up so there is an optimal alignment and tension that allows the shoulder to function normally. The shoulder blade is also crucial to the mix because that is where the rotator cuff muscles anchor at the other end. Most non-traumatic injuries occur over time with poor posture and poor biomechanics being the primary culprits. Activities that require repetitive shoulder motion like swimming, paddling, and all swinging of implements (racquets, bats and clubs) have the potential to create rotator cuff problems. Usually it can be traced back to the fact that poor posture and movement mechanics are asking these small stabilizers to do the job of the prime movers (deltoids).

So if you participate in activities that require repetitive shoulder motion there are several recommendations that are fairly universal. If you already have a shoulder issue then you should seek a diagnosis from a sports MD or an evaluation from a Physical Therapist. If you train with me you will recognize that we always do some shoulder stabilization training as part of our warm-up. I consider this “pre-habilitation”. The small muscles of the rotator cuff respond best to rapid, low amplitude movements (perturbations). There’s a word for you, but you know what it means to be perturbed/agitated and that what we want to do to those muscles, very short/quick movements to activate them.

One of the easiest sequences we use are called “shakers” where the arms are extended to the sides at shoulder height for two movements (up and down thumbs up and forward/backward and next forward at shoulder height for two more movements (up and down and in and out (clapping). Hopefully we will have these up on our exercise library for reference but you can always call and ask me to explain it. In addition there are several stretch cord sequences with specific angles that can serve to strengthen the muscles of the rotator cuff. Again, Rocky and I hope to have these up on our exercise library as well for reference. In the meantime if you have healthy shoulders and want to integrate shoulder stabilization into your strength work try doing push-ups with your hands on a stability ball in a leaning position. The instability of the ball creates those perturbations we discussed earlier and makes the rotator cuff muscles work to stabilize and the core as well.

One final note, when doing pushing or pulling exercises try to keep the shoulder blades retracted (pulled back and down) to avoid poor shoulder mechanics or impingement.

FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

SANTA CRUZ, CA

Phone: (831) 212-1214