To experience how the body must connect at each segment to work efficiently and to identify some of your own areas of weakness and inflexibility, try the following movement:
Cue:
- Start on your hands and knees, with palms below shoulders, knees below hips and spine in a neutral position. Now have someone place a tennis ball or water bottle on your lower back.
- Simultaneously reach opposing limbs away from each other until your arm and leg are horizontal with to the floor
Addressing Shoulder Dysfunction Beyond the Shoulder Itself
By Tara Keller, BSc.(KIN), MES
Part I: The Kinetic Chain
Whether you work with multisport athletes or older adult populations it is common to see soft tissue stress surrounding the shoulders during repetitive actions like freestyle swimming or during sustained posturing at a computer. Excessive protraction, elevation and internal rotation (forward rounding) at the shoulder can narrow the joint spaces surrounding the shoulder itself and cause shoulder impingement and strain on the rotator cuff injury.
When we have areas of weakness or inflexibility, the body finds ways to compensate and perform movement, often putting our joints in these compromised positions. As a result, adverse tissue stress is often present before our clients are even aware of it; setting the stage for inflammation, soft tissue swelling and eventual scar tissue development to occur. In the realm of athletic training, elite athletes regularly display the best (or should I say, worst) compensation strategies in avoidance of addressing their foundational weaknesses. As a result, addressing shoulder pain and dysfunction when it does arise requires skilled practitioners to look far beyond the symptoms to uncover the silent triggers. Read the rest of this entry »
