Shoulder Function is very important during exercise! Any upper body training is inseparable from your shoulders! The quality of your shoulder function determines the quality of your movement!

Many people have limited shoulder function due to long-term poor posture and training. The most common condition is insufficient shoulder joint mobility and the scapula is far from the neutral position!

How to improve this situation? There are three keys!

1. Improve thoracic spine mobility

2. Soft tissue mobility of the shoulder

3. Rotator cuff and scapula muscle strength

① Thoracic spine mobility

Produced on the shoulder During movement, because most people lack sufficient mobility of the thoracic spine, the lumbar spine stretches to compensate. By improving thoracic spine mobility, we may be able toAvoid potential pressure on the lumbar spine and shoulder joints. Additionally, this will help restore the position of the scapula (the height of the scapula is affected by the thoracic spine). People with more curvature in the thoracic spine will have excessive scapular protraction and forward tilt. This often results in a reduction of joint space where the rotator cuff muscle keys are located, potentially leading to pain or dysfunction. Recommended reading: Improvement of thoracic spine mobility

② Soft tissue mobility of the shoulder< /p>

If soft tissue restrictions are not treated regularly, they may cause the body to adapt and cause long-term tightness. Latissimus dorsi, chest muscles, triceps, etc. will all limit your shoulder movement! Perform the movement with your shoulders in a disadvantageous position (shoulder internal rotation, forward lean). Many times, we can solve these problems through some simple actions (fascial release, stretching, etc.) to help restore or improve the athlete's range of motion.

Recommended reading: Methods to improve limited shoulder joint mobility

③ Muscle strength of shoulder rotator cuff and scapula

< p>If you can only do ① and ② but not ③, it won’t work. It is easy to deal with shoulder and thoracic spine mobility, but without trying to build good rotator cuff and scapular stability, all the preparation done may be in vain.

We often see people trying to build bigger, sexier muscle groups while neglecting the smaller stabilizing muscle groups. This is undoubtedlyOops!

Although the rotator cuff muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) are actually small muscle groups, they are not the main source of strength. They surround the shoulder and humerus joints, making the Its stable. But it plays an important role in stabilizing the humerus of the upper arm and shoulder during a wide range of shoulder joint movements.

If our muscles are insufficient or unbalanced, the shoulders will not be in a very stable state during training, which will not only affect the quality of our training, but also increase the risk of injury! How to improve, please see: 3 actions to strengthen the stability and strength of the rotator cuff