How to properly exercise your shoulders

When we practice a sport or we exercise in the gym, lesions appear on the shoulder. These sometimes prevent the normal movement and others cause much pain or discomfort. Injuries to the shoulder joint occur for various reasons and become a setback for the athlete.

One of the most common of these injuries is the sensation of pain, frozen shoulder, there are even times that these discomforts prevent movement. According to experts, it is necessary to pay close attention to our body, because, perhaps, a future injury occurs when an arm moves less than the other.

Why injuries occur in the shoulders?

Many foolish acts bring lesions in joints, muscle or ligament, such as strains of biceps, pectoralis major and deltoid, supraspinatus tendonitis, bursitis subdeltoid bicipital tenosynovitis, calcification and exostoses at the lower edge of the glenoid. 

The problems in the shoulder joint may be due to the following reasons: 

• Improper techniques: Bad techniques in shoulder movement. For example, athletes who interrupt the arc of motion, loosen the weight at the time of impact, etc.
• Inappropriate elements: They can be very heavy, the muscle fatigue faster than in another situation. 
• Exaggerated gestures: Repeat the movement without prior preparation. For example, beginners who practice a movement several times the first time. 
• Bad Warm-up: Deficient preparation in the area to act, with weights without prior warm. 

Advice 

Always, at the first trouble, you must see a doctor. 

If you already have an injury during the first 72 hours. If the pain is very sharp, you should be resting. When the pain becomes permanent, your doctor will deal with the point you need for your case. It is very likely to indicate when you see a kinesiologist. 

Treatment goals are: to eliminate sensitivity to pain, increased irrigation in the area, better joint range, prevent and remove adhesions, stiffness and contractures, maintain tone and tissue trophism, return to competition or practice activity in the shortest time possible.

Obviously, each specialist has his method for treating injuries, anyway here are the techniques that work better:

• Supply of painkillers and anti-inflammatory medication, as prescribed 
• Physical therapy: Iontophoresis, ultrasound, laser, magnetic therapy 
• Thermotherapy: short wave, waves, infrared 
• Relaxing massages and anti-inflammatory creams 

Exercises to strengthen and develop the shoulders

The deltoid is the muscle that is generally known as the shoulder area. It is basically divided into three parts: anterior deltoid, lateral deltoid, posterior deltoid, all of which, in turn, are divided into at least seven muscle bundles. The deltoid muscle is a lift arm, and moves like a crane, in all directions. For its part, the anterior muscle rotates the humerus to the interior, while later it turns outward. 

When training your shoulders, it must be remembered that the lifting arm always establishes a rotation of the scapula from the earliest grades of movement. In that movement also involved other muscles, such as the trapezius, which in fact is always active in all the exercises for the shoulders.

It is important to emphasize that in practice is very common to see athletes taking excessive loads, and so neglect the performance. Thus, what they produce is an effort of their muscles that do not really want to train, running unnecessary risks. 

A typical example is the exercise for the development of the deltoid, "dumbbell side elevation”. What tends to happen during the execution of this exercise is that, if the load is excessive, athletes hardly fail to raise the dumbbells to the right point (when the hands form a line with the shoulders), thus applying a misguided effort to muscles lumbar and risking damage to the spine. When the exercise is performed correctly and with the proper load, the deltoid training is effective and risk free.

Shoulder Exercises 

Head Closing: bend legs apart a little more than shoulder width. Open arms slightly bent, so that the weights are in line with your shoulders. Without changing the angle of the elbows, lift weights and take them to the vertical shoulders. Return to starting position.

Burpees: Advanced Exercise involving several muscle groups at once: muscles of the shoulders, arms, chest and the legs. For this reason, Burpees exercise is one of the most used by the Marines of the U.S. military in their training, because it is a complete and effective exercise also the time to train aerobic capacity.

Dumbbell Lateral Raises: Exercise suitable for beginners and professionals who want to work on the three areas that comprise the deltoid. It is essential to properly learn the technique of execution before applying heavy loads, not to pose risks to the spine. 

Trunk leaning, lateral raise: Specific Exercise to work the posterior deltoid muscle bundles. This exercise trains the shoulders and is of medium difficulty, and therefore also recommend strengthening the lumbar muscles in order to avoid risks to the column. 

Sources: Aplenotenis / Passion 4 Profession

About the author