Personal Trainers Forum

[Personaltrainer]

Balance through control: the five ingredients

Exercises and guidelines are given for the five most essential ingredients for an athlete whose main weapon is the shoulder:

Sports-specific technique
Flexibility
Core stability
Rotator-cuff control
General strength


Sports-specific technique: poor performance and shoulder pain commonly originate in bad habits of technique. Often they are only clearly seen when muscle fatigue sets in.The variety of overhead movements required for each sport gives rise to very subtle and unique technique faults. We give examples of what to look out for.


Flexibility: the purpose of flexibility varies for the different muscles around the shoulder. For the major power muscles, it is important that flexibility allows freedom of movement for the pelvis, trunk, scapula, and humerus. For the rotator cuff, the critical issue is the balance of forces centreing the head of the humerus, and to a lesser degree, freedom of movement. As we explain, it is more critical that the internal and external rotators are equally flexible, rather than how flexible they are.


Stretching: learn why stretching to increase flexibility should never be done prior to training or competition -- and when it should be done.


Core stability: core stability has become a whole science in itself in the last decade as all manner of sports professionals have realised how critical it is for the inner core of the body, namely those joints closer to the spine, to be supported by the postural muscles designed to do so. For the shoulder, the critical areas are the lumbar and cervical spine and the scapulothoracic joint. Discover why, if these areas are not stable, significant extra loading and strain is passed on to the shoulder joint


Rotator-cuff strength and control: the rotator-cuff muscles are dependent on the good positioning of the scapula for effective control. If the scapula is angled too far forward or downward, for instance, while the tennis player reaches overhead to smash, the rotator-cuff muscles are biomechanically disadvantaged and may result in failure of the prime mover muscles to generate power.


General muscle strength: once the foundational issues of technique, flexibility, core stability, and rotator-cuff control are being implemented, we then look at the bigger picture of the ‘outer core’. What is the rest of your body like - does it help or hinder the performance of your shoulder?