Do you have shoulder pain?
Shoulder pain can of course be caused by a variety of issues, but one very common cause is a tight posterior capsule.
You see, the rotator cuff muscles in the rear of your shoulder wrap around, and attach to the side of your upper arm, and control its rotational movement. When those muscles get tight, they will come down and forward and taper down, and almost push the shoulder forward. Over time, this leads to a chronic shortening and tightening of the posterior capsule.
This is bad news, because when you are in this tightened and shortened position, and then you go to lift a weight over your head, or even do something like a push up, you have increased opportunity to start pinching some structures in the shoulder.
SO – if you think this might be an issue for you – I suggest the shoulder stretch below.
This one is simple, but most people haven’t tried it.
And it’s one of the best stretches I know of for tight and painful shoulders:
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EAGLE ARMS STRETCH
– Start with the arms wide apart.
– Cross the arms in front of you cross the right arm under the left arm. (Do NOT ‘whip’ your arms ballistically into position – go slowly, safety first!)
– Try to bring your right arm back towards your right shoulder.
– BEGINNERS – stop here! (middle pic) – keep going if you want more stretch …
– If it is possible press the fingers of the right hand into the left palm.
– Attempt to bring the elbows to the height of the shoulders.
– The gaze should be in the seam of the two forearms.
– Try your best to draw the shoulder blades towards each other onto the upper back.
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If you have painful / tight shoulders, give the Eagle Arms Stretch a try each day for the next two weeks, and see the change you can create.
To your success! –
– Forest Vance
Master of Science, Human Movement
Certified Corrective Exercise Specialist
ForestVance.com
PS – For tight / painful shoulders, I also recommend you check this out.
REGENERATE is a simple recovery program, designed specifically for lifters and athletes.
It is a combination of yoga poses, static stretches, core exercises and more combined into simple sequences that take 3 to 6 minutes to do, that require no special equipment.
Not to mention, they will also help you reduce chronic pain, improve mobility / flexibility, and feel amazing!