When I started thinking about how to write a blog about arm care, it occurred to me that we should be talking about issues that cause us to have arm problems in the first place. Often, these issues manifest in other areas of the body and it’s the arm that ends up being the proverbial “whipping boy” and takes the beating (i.e. it hurts!). With this thought in mind, let's take a quick look at some easy ways we can keep our arms healthy as overhead athletes (baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, javelin and shot putters etc.).
The very first thing we need to consider and make clear is how muscles are organized according to their function by the brain. Some muscles are there to move joints. Others are there to stabilize them. The second thing we need to recognize is that stabilizing muscles work best based on reflexive based directives (we don’t think about it, it just happens). The muscles that move joints work best based on thought driven directives (I think about it and make it happen). Here’s how this works in real life. Let's take a bicep curl - In order for your bicep to contract and flex your elbow, a thought in your head has to occur for that to take place. BUT - the muscles that stabilize your shoulder joint fire and do so without you thinking about it. That is a reflexive contraction! It didn’t happen because you willed it to, it happened because it had to in order to support the thought driven contraction (the bicep curl). Got it? Good!
So think about this - if we need stabilizers to help the movers, and the stabilizers work best when driven via reflexes, then it makes sense that when it comes to arm care, we should utilize both thought driven movements and reflexive driven movements in our program. I say this because a lot of arm care programs lean heavily on the thought driven movements and don’t do much when it comes to reflexive stabilization and the huge role it plays in arm care.
During our development as children, the shoulder learned how to function and stabilize reflexively, all on its own. It learned how to do its job and work with other parts of the body to create movement. We lifted our big baby head off the ground, we looked up, down and all around. We pressed ourselves off the floor, laid back down, rolled onto our bellies and back on to our backs. We learned how to get up on all fours and crawl about the room to explore it. Largely, we all figured out how to move on our own without coaches or special programs to follow. Doctors call this process the Neuro-Developmental Movement Sequence. This sequence of movements practiced over and over again is what taught our bodies how to move and get strong. It worked then, and it will work now! This is the essence of reflexive movement.
Now, the good stuff: If you want healthy shoulders and arms, a good place to start is the spine. Here is why. The shoulder is anchored through a series of bone and muscle-tendon connections beginning at the spine and ending at the shoulder joint. The go-between the spine and the shoulder joint is the scapula or, as it’s better known – the shoulder blade. All of these structures and the muscles attached to them have to work in concert with one another for the shoulder joint to work up to its potential.
When the spine has optimal levels of mobility and stability, that allows for optimal functioning of the scapula (shoulder blade) and the muscles that attach to it (see the “posterior view” picture below) In turn, this set up allows for optimal functioning of the glenohumeral joint (shoulder). All of this indicates that movement efficiency at the spine will lead to movement efficiency at the scapula, which in turn leads to movement efficiency at the shoulder joint.
An overly stiff spine (too stable – lacking enough mobility) can result in dysfunction of the muscles attaching to both the spine and the scapula, leading to poor scapular movement. This can result in the shoulder not working in the way it was designed to. Because of this dysfunction, movement compensations typically occur. Over time, these compensations become our “normal way” of doing things and can lead to poor shoulder health and possibly pain.
Specific to the shoulder we want to do the following things:
Breathe with our diaphragm
When you breathe this way it has the effect of mobilizing your spine so that it works and feels better
Lift and lower your head as well as turn right and left while laying on the floor (your belly)
Movement of the head mobilizes the entire spine but especially the cervical and thoracic spine (upper and mid-spine).
These areas are also anchor points for muscles that influence the shoulder blade and, therefore, the shoulder joint. Consequently, optimizing both the stability and mobility of the head and neck will contribute to optimal shoulder health
Roll from side to side
Rolling nourishes the entire spine in a safe and feel-good way. The spine needs to move!
Rolling reflexively retrains stabilization of the spine, so the spine is stabilized before arm movement.
The spine needs to be stable before your scapula and arm move. This translates to safer movement, and increased force output of the shoulder joint.
Rocking on your hands and knees
Rocking is actually reflexive strength training for the shoulder! This is one of the ways you developed the strength and stability of your shoulders, to begin with!
When you do a lot of rocking, it improves and speeds up the reflexive timing and activation of the shoulder complex and improves motor control.
Keeps the spine healthy as rocking with the head held up improves the posture of the spine.
Crawl on your hands and knees
“Higher intensity” strength training for the shoulder.
The shoulder will have to bear the weight of the body alone as you initiate the crawling movement. As a consequence, there is a higher demand placed on the shoulder complex to stabilize and control the movement.
Crawling helps to establish optimal posture.
By first addressing the reflexive stability needs of the spine - shoulder and arm we can then progress to the strengthening needs of the arm aka thought driven movements. We’ve covered a lot of territory on this post so I’ll save that for “Arm Care For the Overhead Athlete Part 2” Give these things a try and let me know how they go!