this week i got asked about shoulder injuries so i thought id post one of my old articles up on here.
If you want to save it to your computer just click here
http://judoforum.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=4988
Shoulder injuries & gym exercises
During my 5 years in the gym industry I have noticed as well as leant that some exercises aggravate the rotator cuff muscles within the shoulder joint and occasionally damage them. In this report I am going to give examples of some exercises that I do not recommend performing if you have a past shoulder injury.
Rotator cuff muscles
Do not mistake the rotator cuff muscles as the Deltoid muscles. The 4 rotator cuff muscles are the supraspinatus, subscapularis, teres minor and the infraspinatus these little muscles help maintain the stability of the joint.
Behind the neck Barbell Shoulder Press:
This is one of the most popular shoulder exercises performed by all levels of trainers. The problem with behind the neck shoulder press is to get the Barbell behind your head you put your shoulder joint at a biomechanical disadvantage.
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that you don’t want to be adding any sort of weight to joint that is at a disadvantage.
You may have done this exercise in the past or it may be part of your current gym program if it is I advise you to adjust this exercise and perform the exercise by bringing the bar to the front.
Behind the neck lat pull down
This is one of the most popular exercises to do especially with the older generations of trainers. Many people watch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Pumping Iron and see him doing behind the neck lat pull down and think this is the way to perform the exercise correctly. In the past year a new law has passed in the ACT stating that no one is allowed to teach a behind the neck lat pull down.
The first reason is if, in the rare occurrence, the cable snaps the trainer will smash the sudden light-weight bar into the back of the neck risking injury.
The second reason not to do behind the neck lat pulldown is because it is another exercise that puts the shoulder in a biomechanical weakened position. This once again is due to the trainer having to put the bar behind their neck under load.
Pec dec
Pec Dec is an exercise that so many trainers have to do as part of their chest workout. As an isolation exercise it is fantastic but yes you may injure your shoulder doing this exercise too.
This is due to the fact that while you are performing a Pec Dec your elbows are resting on the pads at a ninety degrees angle. This is another weakened position to be in which could lead to injury.
Overhead tricep extension
This exercise is the one where you are sitting down and resting a DB in both hands you put the DB behind your head and extend your elbows. This exercise is a great exercise to build strong triceps due to the big amount of weight you can lift. But if you do this exercise you may sometimes feel a ‘pinch’ feeling within the shoulder joint. This pinch feeling may lead to injury if one day you lift too much weight or go to low and your should cant handle it.
Upright row
Upright row is another exercise that many trainers complain of a dull ache or slight pinch in the shoulder the day after doing this exercise. This is due to the technique of how trainers perform this exercise. Many trainers each that the top of the movement the elbows must be higher than the shoulders. The correct technique is, at the top of the movement is to keep the elbows even with the wrists, below the shoulders and keep your forearms horizontal top the floor.
In trying to put the elbows above the shoulders you are putting extra stress on the shoulder joint but keeping the elbows horizontal to the floor keeps the shoulder in a strong position at all times.
With all of the above exercises you may have been doing them for years and never once injured your shoulder. I am not saying that if you perform these exercises you will get injured I am just simply stating that due to the fact that you are lifting in an anatomical bad position means these exercises are a higher risk of injury than other exercises.
Many Olympic weightlifters perform behind the neck presses all the time but these athletes spend a lot of time stretching their upper-body because they need excellent shoulder flexibility for the lifts their sport.
Matt D’Aquino
16/10/2007
During my 5 years in the gym industry I have noticed as well as leant that some exercises aggravate the rotator cuff muscles within the shoulder joint and occasionally damage them. In this report I am going to give examples of some exercises that I do not recommend performing if you have a past shoulder injury.
Rotator cuff muscles
Do not mistake the rotator cuff muscles as the Deltoid muscles. The 4 rotator cuff muscles are the supraspinatus, subscapularis, teres minor and the infraspinatus these little muscles help maintain the stability of the joint.
Behind the neck Barbell Shoulder Press:
This is one of the most popular shoulder exercises performed by all levels of trainers. The problem with behind the neck shoulder press is to get the Barbell behind your head you put your shoulder joint at a biomechanical disadvantage.
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that you don’t want to be adding any sort of weight to joint that is at a disadvantage.
You may have done this exercise in the past or it may be part of your current gym program if it is I advise you to adjust this exercise and perform the exercise by bringing the bar to the front.
Behind the neck lat pull down
This is one of the most popular exercises to do especially with the older generations of trainers. Many people watch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Pumping Iron and see him doing behind the neck lat pull down and think this is the way to perform the exercise correctly. In the past year a new law has passed in the ACT stating that no one is allowed to teach a behind the neck lat pull down.
The first reason is if, in the rare occurrence, the cable snaps the trainer will smash the sudden light-weight bar into the back of the neck risking injury.
The second reason not to do behind the neck lat pulldown is because it is another exercise that puts the shoulder in a biomechanical weakened position. This once again is due to the trainer having to put the bar behind their neck under load.
Pec dec
Pec Dec is an exercise that so many trainers have to do as part of their chest workout. As an isolation exercise it is fantastic but yes you may injure your shoulder doing this exercise too.
This is due to the fact that while you are performing a Pec Dec your elbows are resting on the pads at a ninety degrees angle. This is another weakened position to be in which could lead to injury.
Overhead tricep extension
This exercise is the one where you are sitting down and resting a DB in both hands you put the DB behind your head and extend your elbows. This exercise is a great exercise to build strong triceps due to the big amount of weight you can lift. But if you do this exercise you may sometimes feel a ‘pinch’ feeling within the shoulder joint. This pinch feeling may lead to injury if one day you lift too much weight or go to low and your should cant handle it.
Upright row
Upright row is another exercise that many trainers complain of a dull ache or slight pinch in the shoulder the day after doing this exercise. This is due to the technique of how trainers perform this exercise. Many trainers each that the top of the movement the elbows must be higher than the shoulders. The correct technique is, at the top of the movement is to keep the elbows even with the wrists, below the shoulders and keep your forearms horizontal top the floor.
In trying to put the elbows above the shoulders you are putting extra stress on the shoulder joint but keeping the elbows horizontal to the floor keeps the shoulder in a strong position at all times.
With all of the above exercises you may have been doing them for years and never once injured your shoulder. I am not saying that if you perform these exercises you will get injured I am just simply stating that due to the fact that you are lifting in an anatomical bad position means these exercises are a higher risk of injury than other exercises.
Many Olympic weightlifters perform behind the neck presses all the time but these athletes spend a lot of time stretching their upper-body because they need excellent shoulder flexibility for the lifts their sport.
Matt D’Aquino
16/10/2007
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