Shawn Bellon
02-10-2009, 09:30 AM
by PTAaron
I was reading the August issue of Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and it had a few great research studies in it... but one I thought I would post here was related to bodybuilders and shoulder dysfunction... (if this is in the wrong place please move it)
A study was performed comparing 54 men (29 bodybuilders and 25 nonbodybuilders) between the ages of 21 and 34, looking at shoulder range of motion and strength values between the 2 groups. Basically the study found that the bodybuilders had statistically significant loss of shoulder internal rotation (basically this was tested with the Apply scratch test... you try to touch your hands together behind your back with one arm coming from above and the other from below) which is characteristic of shoulder joint pathology. Meaning that there may not necessarily be a problem there now, but there is more likely to be one in the future.
The study also found that the bodybuilders were on average stronger based on % of bodyweight with most shoulder movements EXCEPT muscle testing of the middle and lower trapezius muscles - 2 muscle VERY important to normal scapular movement. There was only a 1.2% difference in strength of these muscles between the bodybuilders and nonbodybuilders. This suggests that the weight training programs most follow leave them with imbalances that can potentially lead to shoulder joint dysfunction.
How to fix the problem and prevent it from happening to you: This is the easy part... first is stretch, and stretch often. Be sure you are warmed up before you stretch, and hold the stretches 15-30 seconds and do not do bouncing movements. To stretch for internal rotation - hold a towel in one hand above your head like you were going to do a one arm dumbell tricep extension, grab the towel behind your back with your other hand and pull up on it with the arm above your head until you feel a "medium" stretch.
Second thing to do is strengthen the lower traps and middle traps - this is very simple: Lower traps - you lie on a bench face down with your arms hanging down. Lift your arms up like you are Superman flying and hold for a count of 5, repeat for 3 sets of 10. Add weight slowly as it gets easier. Middle traps - lying on your stomach on a bench lift your arms out to the side with your thumbs up (like doing reverse flyes, only do it with low weight and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top) - repeat 10 times for 3 sets. Work your way up to doing all of these exercises for 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps - the goal here isn't high weight it is high reps for endurance.
Internal and external rotation exercises with the elbow at your side and a towel roll in your armpit area (puts the muscles in a more advantagous position), the middle and lower trap exercises that I described above, pec stretching, and internal rotation stretching typically help.
It is always beneficial to be evaluated in person by a professional to determine if you have any joint capsule tightness that is causing abnormal movement, because this is relatively easy to correct as well - if the exercises and correcting muscle imbalances don't work.
Also don't forget the importance of ice... fill a paper cup with water, freeze it, then peel off enough of the paper on top to expose the ice while leaving you enough paper to hold on to... rub the ice over the area of pain with moderate pressure for 5-7 minutes, or until it is numb and bright red. Then using your index and middle finger on the other hand, press in to the tendons and rub across them with moderate pressure - this isn't going ot be comfortable - the idea is to irritate the area to speed healing (sounds backwards, but it is a proven technique). Try doing this every day, and you should notice an overall decrease in the irritation as well.
I was reading the August issue of Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and it had a few great research studies in it... but one I thought I would post here was related to bodybuilders and shoulder dysfunction... (if this is in the wrong place please move it)
A study was performed comparing 54 men (29 bodybuilders and 25 nonbodybuilders) between the ages of 21 and 34, looking at shoulder range of motion and strength values between the 2 groups. Basically the study found that the bodybuilders had statistically significant loss of shoulder internal rotation (basically this was tested with the Apply scratch test... you try to touch your hands together behind your back with one arm coming from above and the other from below) which is characteristic of shoulder joint pathology. Meaning that there may not necessarily be a problem there now, but there is more likely to be one in the future.
The study also found that the bodybuilders were on average stronger based on % of bodyweight with most shoulder movements EXCEPT muscle testing of the middle and lower trapezius muscles - 2 muscle VERY important to normal scapular movement. There was only a 1.2% difference in strength of these muscles between the bodybuilders and nonbodybuilders. This suggests that the weight training programs most follow leave them with imbalances that can potentially lead to shoulder joint dysfunction.
How to fix the problem and prevent it from happening to you: This is the easy part... first is stretch, and stretch often. Be sure you are warmed up before you stretch, and hold the stretches 15-30 seconds and do not do bouncing movements. To stretch for internal rotation - hold a towel in one hand above your head like you were going to do a one arm dumbell tricep extension, grab the towel behind your back with your other hand and pull up on it with the arm above your head until you feel a "medium" stretch.
Second thing to do is strengthen the lower traps and middle traps - this is very simple: Lower traps - you lie on a bench face down with your arms hanging down. Lift your arms up like you are Superman flying and hold for a count of 5, repeat for 3 sets of 10. Add weight slowly as it gets easier. Middle traps - lying on your stomach on a bench lift your arms out to the side with your thumbs up (like doing reverse flyes, only do it with low weight and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top) - repeat 10 times for 3 sets. Work your way up to doing all of these exercises for 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps - the goal here isn't high weight it is high reps for endurance.
Internal and external rotation exercises with the elbow at your side and a towel roll in your armpit area (puts the muscles in a more advantagous position), the middle and lower trap exercises that I described above, pec stretching, and internal rotation stretching typically help.
It is always beneficial to be evaluated in person by a professional to determine if you have any joint capsule tightness that is causing abnormal movement, because this is relatively easy to correct as well - if the exercises and correcting muscle imbalances don't work.
Also don't forget the importance of ice... fill a paper cup with water, freeze it, then peel off enough of the paper on top to expose the ice while leaving you enough paper to hold on to... rub the ice over the area of pain with moderate pressure for 5-7 minutes, or until it is numb and bright red. Then using your index and middle finger on the other hand, press in to the tendons and rub across them with moderate pressure - this isn't going ot be comfortable - the idea is to irritate the area to speed healing (sounds backwards, but it is a proven technique). Try doing this every day, and you should notice an overall decrease in the irritation as well.