Shoulder Trouble...Interesting Diagnosis

[Wahine]

OK, I spent about 20 min this AM typing up a response to this and it got lost in the ether and I got frustrated. Now I'm going to try again but please realize that if the tone of the response seems terse, it's not my intention... just happens that way because of what happened this AM.

Rear delt exercises have to be done with caution, the elbow whould not go past the line of the torso, this adds stress to the shoulder and may actually make the pain worse. Here's a visual example of that form mistake. Here's an example of a rear deltoid exercise where the person doing the exercise is not mving his arm too far back. I really like exercises that use your own body weight like this one. What I like about this is that the weight is effectively less as you get into the form danger zone. You can easily do this with webbing or rope, you don't need anything fancy. This is also a good option using cables.

The other things to keep in mind is that you need to do pec stretches and specific rotator cuff strengthening is also important.

Hope that helps.

[salsabike]

Hey, thanks for posting that, Wahine. Ever since I overdid the swimming thing, I have been doing light-weight shoulder strengthening exercises. That is one of them, and I didn't know about the alignment thing. Think I am going to go consult with a triathlete PT here in Seattle to get a complete program of training/exercises that take into account the fibromyagia-related issues as well. Anyway, I appreciate this post of yours.

[salsabike]

Hey, thanks for posting that, Wahine. Ever since I overdid the swimming thing, I have been doing light-weight shoulder strengthening exercises. That is one of them, and I didn't know about the alignment thing. Think I am going to go consult with a triathlete PT here in Seattle to get a complete program of training/exercises that take into account the fibromyagia-related issues as well. Anyway, I appreciate this post of yours.

Jeez--sorry, I only posted half of my thought. What I MEANT also to say was: I got those shoulder strengthening exercise on the internet--but they did not make clear that pulling back beyond your torso was not okay. Point being that internet is a great resource for damn near anything BUT that it's also probably good to check in person with a PT or someone with similar knowledge to ensure you are doing the exercises correctly.

[Wahine]

Pulling beyond the torso is often OK if you don't already have shouder pain but it's not good for people with rotator cuff problems.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

There are two things that are going on. Muscle groups become tight while others become ..well...lazy. I'm a good example. My pecs are over developed and tend to round my shoulders forward while my back muscles are stretched due to the pecs being over tight. So when you look at muscle imbalances you have to address the tight muscles as well as the weak muscles. The only way to do this is with dynamic assessments.

There is a whole way of approaching it but what what it comes down to is that cyclists need to spend time hitting the weights (or doing some type of strength training that includes core and balance training) to help keep everything in check.

I'm a good example. I thought that mtn biking and commuting would be enough. I should know better. It's not. I now have a muscle imbalance that came to light after an injury and won't heal right. Guess what I'm now doing? Yep, calf strengthening. I was pretty surprised but then I compared what my calves look like now compared to last year and it's pretty obvious. I have much less defined calves and last year I weight trained twice per week.

Balance is really important too, I was pretty surprised how much I was lacking in that area as well. I am spending alot of time on the bike but I need to take my own advice at some point and spend some time training off of it too.