How to Exercise With a Shoulder Injury

How to Exercise With a Shoulder Injury

First of all: Can you work out with a shoulder injury?

That’s a question you need to answer with your doctor or physical therapist. If you get the go-ahead to work out, heed any advice or exercise limitations your medical professional recommends.

the limitations are about preventing further injury to the shoulder, but the specifics depend on what’s wrong.

There are several types of shoulder injuries, so getting the bottom of what’s going on is important.

There are actual tissue damage injuries like a torn tendon/rotator cuff, and then there are overuse injuries such as tendonitis and bursitis. There are also wear and tear injuries that come with age that can happen, such as impingement issues and osteoarthritis.

As a starting point, you should avoid:

Overhead pressing exercises such as the military press and shoulder press
Incline pressing exercises such as the incline chest press
Movements that compress the shoulder, such as the plank and downward dog
Any dip variation

Although these are general suggestions, you might want to avoid others based on your injury.

SIMPLY, If you feel any pain or discomfort - that’s a movement you need to avoid while you heal.

Both experts strongly suggest seeing a doctor that specializes in sports medicine, as that person will be able to assess what type of injury you have and direct you to a physical therapist that can guide you along the path to recovery.

How TO Ease Back Into Workouts After a Shoulder Injury

Before you can start performing SHOULDER WORKOUTS, you need to correct existing mobility issues and strengthen the muscles that help move and stabilize your shoulder joint.

Ideally, you work with a physical therapist OR A CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER who can guide you through correct movement patterns. No matter who’s helping you heal, you need to work on mobility.

Otherwise, you’re basically trying to strengthen something that can’t move, so you might tear a tendon or the shoulder labrum.

the only thing that heals you is your own body over time, and avoiding things that will exacerbate your injury are of the utmost importance. i strongly advise you to implement Collagen into your nutrition/supplement program.

Collagen is a protein found in our connective tissues, including tendons and ligaments. Supplementing with collagen can support the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues. Look for high-quality collagen supplements derived from sources like bovine or marine collagen. You’re going to need to take things slow, be consistent with your rehab, and ease back into workouts slowly.

Some of the key parts of post injury recovery are accepting your situation and viewing rehab as you would training.

5 Steps for Rebuilding Shoulder Strength After an Injury

Healing looks different for everyone, but the overall process of getting back into working out after a shoulder injury is:

1. Mobilize the shoulder joint and surrounding muscles

A common problem Marko sees with shoulder dysfunction is overly tight pectoral muscles but weak upper back muscles, so you need to balance them.

2. Strengthen stabilizing muscles

A good example of this is making sure you can properly retract your shoulder blades. Strengthening this ability allows you to use your shoulder muscles more effectively during shoulder exercises.

3. Practice correct positioning and movement patterns

You need to bring your weights down for a while once you’re recruiting the correct muscles during shoulder exercises. Your body may have been relying on other, stronger muscles to get through the movements.

Lightening the load and focusing on the form will help prevent future injuries and actually work the muscles you’re targeting.

4. Slowly build strength through volume and load

Once you’re activating your muscles and executing movement patterns correctly, you can slowly start increasing the volume or load to build your strength back up.

You can mix it up for each workout, but increase either load or volume, not both at the same time. If you can no longer perform an exercise with correct form, it’s time to stop.

Pushing past that point increases your risk of overexertion, which can lead to injury, including strains and sprains.

5. Consistently monitor for pain or discomfort

Avoiding more injury is essential, and that requires listening to your body.

Exercises That Can Help Rehab a Shoulder Injury

start with exercises that move your shoulder through full ranges of motion, such as the I-Y-T SHOULDER RAISE and the 90/90 external rotation.

I-Y-T:

standing I-Y-T exercise with dumbbells ~ You will spell the letters I, Y, and T with your arms. The I-Y-T exercise is a full-range-of-motion exercise for your shoulders, and the benefits include: Strengthening joints.

Keep your arms straight and lift them up off of the ground straight out in front of you. Hold for a second, then lower them back down to the ground. Move your hands out to a “Y” position (half way between front and side) and repeat step 2. Move your hands out to a “T” position directly to the side of your shoulders and repeat step 2.Skip the weights and use only your body weight to evaluate how your shoulder feels and the amount of movement you can perform safely and without pain.

90/90:

Bring your shoulder up to 90 degrees, such that your upper arm is parallel to the floor. This is your starting point and you will maintain this position, then rotate your hand up towards the ceiling while trying to keep your elbow and shoulder still. Return your hand back down and repeat at a quick pace. Once you can move through a healthy range of motion comfortably, you can add light weights and begin performing the exercises.

Other movements you can try include face pulls using a rope, deadlifts, and bent-over dumbbell rows.

You can also include SHOULDER REHAB EXERCISES like pendulums, elbow flexions, and standing rows to build stabilizing strength and regain your mobility.

Side-lying external rotations

Lie on your “good” side (opposite your injured shoulder) with your head resting on your bottom arm.
Place a towel on your affected side and rest your elbow on it with your elbow bent 90-degrees and your forearm positioned perpendicular to the front of your body. *This is the starting position.
Keeping your elbow pressed to your side, raise your hand as high as you can toward the ceiling without discomfort or rotating the trunk of your body.
Pause, and then return to the starting position.
Do 20 reps, and then switch sides and repeat.

Shoulder clocks

Lie on your “good ” side (opposite your injured shoulder) with your head resting on your bottom arm.
Place your top arm (with the sore shoulder) along the side of your body with your hand flat and palm facing down.
Keeping your arm straight, move it arm through an arc (leading with your thumb) from your leg to above your head, and then rotate your hand counterclockwise so that your palm now faces up.
Now move your arm in an arc behind you (leading with your pinky) from your head to your leg.
Rotate your hand to place your palm on your leg and return to the starting position.
Do 20 reps, and then switch sides and repeat.

Once you can do these exercises with bodyweight, BEGIN adding light weights to the side-lying external rotations.

This exercise involves a very important muscle group that is small but mighty. The rotators help to stabilize the humerus bone in the joint.

If your rotator cuff is too weak to provide this stabilization ~ the joint will drag when you move your arm, potentially causing the tendon to pinch against the bone.

You can perform all of these exercises up to twice a day with the approval of your doctor or physical therapist.

How to Exercise With a Shoulder Injury

How to Exercise With a Shoulder Injury

First of all: Can you work out with a shoulder injury?

That’s a question you need to answer with your doctor or physical therapist. If you get the go-ahead to work out, heed any advice or exercise limitations your medical professional recommends.

the limitations are about preventing further injury to the shoulder, but the specifics depend on what’s wrong.

There are several types of shoulder injuries, so getting the bottom of what’s going on is important.

There are actual tissue damage injuries like a torn tendon/rotator cuff, and then there are overuse injuries such as tendonitis and bursitis. There are also wear and tear injuries that come with age that can happen, such as impingement issues and osteoarthritis.

As a starting point, you should avoid:

Overhead pressing exercises such as the military press and shoulder press

Incline pressing exercises such as the incline chest press

Movements that compress the shoulder, such as the plank and downward dog

Any dip variation

Although these are general suggestions, you might want to avoid others based on your injury.

SIMPLY, If you feel any pain or discomfort - that’s a movement you need to avoid while you heal.

Both experts strongly suggest seeing a doctor that specializes in sports medicine, as that person will be able to assess what type of injury you have and direct you to a physical therapist that can guide you along the path to recovery.

How TO Ease Back Into Workouts After a Shoulder Injury

Before you can start performing SHOULDER WORKOUTS, you need to correct existing mobility issues and strengthen the muscles that help move and stabilize your shoulder joint.

Ideally, you work with a physical therapist OR A CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER who can guide you through correct movement patterns. No matter who’s helping you heal, you need to work on mobility.

Otherwise, you’re basically trying to strengthen something that can’t move, so you might tear a tendon or the shoulder labrum.

the only thing that heals you is your own body over time, and avoiding things that will exacerbate your injury are of the utmost importance. i strongly advise you to implement Collagen into your nutrition/supplement program.

Some of the key parts of post injury recovery are accepting your situation and viewing rehab as you would training.

5 Steps for Rebuilding Shoulder Strength After an Injury

Healing looks different for everyone, but the overall process of getting back into working out after a shoulder injury is:

1. Mobilize the shoulder joint and surrounding muscles

A common problem Marko sees with shoulder dysfunction is overly tight pectoral muscles but weak upper back muscles, so you need to balance them.

2. Strengthen stabilizing muscles

A good example of this is making sure you can properly retract your shoulder blades. Strengthening this ability allows you to use your shoulder muscles more effectively during shoulder exercises.

3. Practice correct positioning and movement patterns

You need to bring your weights down for a while once you’re recruiting the correct muscles during shoulder exercises. Your body may have been relying on other, stronger muscles to get through the movements.

Lightening the load and focusing on the form will help prevent future injuries and actually work the muscles you’re targeting.

4. Slowly build strength through volume and load

Once you’re activating your muscles and executing movement patterns correctly, you can slowly start increasing the volume or load to build your strength back up.

You can mix it up for each workout, but increase either load or volume, not both at the same time. If you can no longer perform an exercise with correct form, it’s time to stop.

Pushing past that point increases your risk of overexertion, which can lead to injury, including strains and sprains.

5. Consistently monitor for pain or discomfort

Avoiding more injury is essential, and that requires listening to your body.

Exercises That Can Help Rehab a Shoulder Injury

start with exercises that move your shoulder through full ranges of motion, such as the I-Y-T SHOULDER RAISE and the 90/90 external rotation.

I-Y-T:

standing I-Y-T exercise with dumbbells ~ You will spell the letters I, Y, and T with your arms. The I-Y-T exercise is a full-range-of-motion exercise for your shoulders, and the benefits include: Strengthening joints.

90/90:

Other movements you can try include face pulls using a rope, deadlifts, and bent-over dumbbell rows.

You can also include SHOULDER REHAB EXERCISES like pendulums, elbow flexions, and standing rows to build stabilizing strength and regain your mobility.

Side-lying external rotations

Lie on your “good” side (opposite your injured shoulder) with your head resting on your bottom arm.

Place a towel on your affected side and rest your elbow on it with your elbow bent 90-degrees and your forearm positioned perpendicular to the front of your body. *This is the starting position.

Keeping your elbow pressed to your side, raise your hand as high as you can toward the ceiling without discomfort or rotating the trunk of your body.

Pause, and then return to the starting position.

Do 20 reps, and then switch sides and repeat.

Shoulder clocks

Lie on your “good ” side (opposite your injured shoulder) with your head resting on your bottom arm.

Place your top arm (with the sore shoulder) along the side of your body with your hand flat and palm facing down.

Keeping your arm straight, move it arm through an arc (leading with your thumb) from your leg to above your head, and then rotate your hand counterclockwise so that your palm now faces up.

Now move your arm in an arc behind you (leading with your pinky) from your head to your leg.

Rotate your hand to place your palm on your leg and return to the starting position.

Do 20 reps, and then switch sides and repeat.

Once you can do these exercises with bodyweight, BEGIN adding light weights to the side-lying external rotations.

This exercise involves a very important muscle group that is small but mighty. The rotators help to stabilize the humerus bone in the joint.

If your rotator cuff is too weak to provide this stabilization ~ the joint will drag when you move your arm, potentially causing the tendon to pinch against the bone.

You can perform all of these exercises up to twice a day with the approval of your doctor or physical therapist.

Sharon Bruneau Official

bbbfittv@gmail.com