Lately I’ve been battling a repetitive shoulder injury, so I decided I wanted to find a good shoulder rehab video. This was very difficult because I wanted some fresh new ideas to strengthen my shoulder, but also a good quality video. In this rotator cuff video, they use a chiropractic table to do the exercises; you can do these exercises with a workout bench as well. Due to the fact that the shoulder has very little stability it is more likely to experience injury that is why shoulder injuries are so common. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint, therefore, it allows a large range of motion, but the socket is shallow, which also is a reason for instability. The chiropractor in the video mentions we want to use small weights to strengthen the stabilizing muscles because if we use large weights then the larger muscles will take over. The large muscles that the chiropractor mentions in the video are the deltoid (anterior, posterior and lateral heads), triceps and trapezius. Now the triceps and trapezius muscle are not shoulder muscles but they are large muscles in the body that will kick in and help a shoulder movement if the rotator cuff muscles are weak.
It is also mentioned that it is a good idea to teach the shoulder blade to move properly around the thoracic area. One reason given is to help maintain proper posture. We have many daily activities that cause us to slowly hunch over and slouch. We tend to become tight in our pectorals and neck also causing our shoulders to round forward or hike upwards.
Note: when he mentions to lock your elbows during exercise #2 – don’t hyper extend your elbows!!!