Body Shop: Don’t shrug off shoulder PT - Military Off Duty, Army Health, military fitness, army physical fitness - Army Times

Body Shop: Don’t shrug off shoulder PT

Shoulder soreness doesn’t discriminate based on age — it strikes young and old alike.

The demands of an active job or athletic lifestyle make nagging problems such as tendinitis, shoulder dislocations and rotator cuff injuries more prevalent. So the goal is to stop aches and pains before they start.

Shoulder mechanics 101

Most joints, such as the knees, depend heavily on bone for strength, structure and stability. In contrast, shoulder mobility comes from a joint structure created predominately out of tendons, ligaments and muscles, according to Dr. Luke Mease, occupational and environmental medicine resident at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

“The shoulder is the most mobile joint of the body, but unfortunately that mobility comes at the cost of increased risk of injury,” Mease says.

Soft tissue in the shoulder is more flexible than bone but generally not as strong, making shoulders more susceptible to injury.

“Because shoulders are so mobile, we are able to get our arms into all sorts of awkward, stressful positions, putting increased strain on the shoulder,” Mease says. “This can lead to acute or chronic injury.”

Whether you’re hunching over a computer, dropping into tanks, rucking or jumping out of planes, healthy shoulders are imperative to your job. The keys to avoiding injury are good shoulder flexibility and strength.

The exercises

For whole-shoulder health, Mease suggests the following. For optimal results, incorporate them into your workout program three to five times a week.

1. Arm circles help to maintain or regain range of motion for the shoulder and are good to use as a warm-up before exercise.

Begin by holding your arms straight out from your sides, forming a T with your body. Make small circles with both arms. Gradually increase the size of the circles until both hands are moving in wide circles, as if you are swimming the freestyle stroke.

2. Corner stretch: This targets pectoral muscles and aids in shoulder flexibility.

Stand facing a corner. Hold both arms above your head, with elbows at a 90-degree angle and one forearm against each wall. Lean your chest toward the corner. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat three to four times.

3 “No money” is one of Mease’s favorite shoulder and back exercises because it strengthens the serratus anterior muscles along your upper ribcage as well as the lower trapezius in your upper back. It also improves stability of the scapula (shoulder blades) and shoulder.

Stand with hands by your sides, palms facing forward, as if you’re signaling you have no money. While keeping your arms straight, move your arms/hands backward by pulling your shoulder blades together. Imagine that you are trying to cover your spine by pulling your shoulder blades together over the spine. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat. Do two to three sets of five to 10 reps.

Variations include lying on a foam roll (going straight up your spine) and using a resistance band. You can also lie on your stomach and lift your arms/hands off the ground, again by pulling shoulder blades together. When lying on your stomach, lift your feet at the same time as your hands, working the upper and lower back.

4. Internal rotation exercise strengthens the rotator cuff by working the four muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis) that connect the arm and shoulder.

Lie on your back and rotate both knees to the same side. This will lift your back slightly off the floor. Bend your bottom arm to a 90-degree angle and grab some kind of weight — use a can of soup, water bottle or light dumbbell. Lift the weight until your forearm crosses your torso. Slowly lower the arm back to the ground. Repeat five times for each arm. Do three to five sets.

5. Press plus helps to strengthen the muscles of the upper back and shoulders and improves shoulder stability.

While holding a light weight, lie on your back. Do a bench press with the weight (it should be light enough that this requires very little effort). With the weight in position, push it several inches higher by lifting your shoulder blades off the ground. Repeat 10 times. Do three sets.

Words from the wise

Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Brett Owens has conducted several shoulder instability studies with cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

His research points to shoulder instability as a problem in young athletes and is credited for changing the way young athletes are treated after experiencing shoulder dislocation.

“The traditional thinking had always been to ‘wait until it comes out again’ before recommending surgery,” Owens says. “But our young patients are at the highest risk for recurrence, which has the downside of continued damage to the bone of the ball and socket as well as the soft tissues, sometimes precluding a successful repair. Therefore, we offer stabilization to these high-risk folks.”

Most recently, Owens and his team conducted a four-year study at West Point to evaluate risk factors for shoulder damage and to develop preventive measures.

Owens doesn’t have an answer yet, but, he says, “If service members feel their shoulder give way or completely dislocate, they should be seen by an orthopedic surgeon … they may need surgical stabilization.”