| If you ever take a moment to stop and look around at | | | | and often causes weight lifters to discontinue |
| your fellow weight-lifters at your health club, it is likely | | | | exercising, leading to unhappy and inactive people who |
| that you will make a troubling observation. An | | | | may loose flexibility and muscular strength. |
| inordinate number of gym patrons are forced to pause | | | | How do you fix this problem? |
| frequently throughout their weight-lifting routines in | | | | If you have severe pain with swelling, you are unable |
| order to rub their painful shoulders. Unfortunately, | | | | to lift your arms to shoulder level, or a long history of |
| shoulder pain is nagging and prevalent in health clubs, | | | | pain, you need to consult your Chiropractic doctor, as |
| despite the fact that most pain can be avoided with a | | | | advanced treatment of your injuries with therapies, |
| few simple precautions. One of the most common | | | | surgical correction, or medications may be necessary. |
| shoulder conditions encountered is shoulder | | | | However, if your shoulder pain is minor and nagging, |
| impingement, meaning that the round ball of the arm | | | | the following guidelines could be helpful: |
| bone, called the head of the humerus, rubs or grinds up | | | | 1. Avoid movements that require you to push your |
| against the underside of your acromion bone. Although | | | | arms forward or overhead until the shoulder pain is |
| this condition has numerous causes, one of the most | | | | corrected. Examples of these movements would be |
| common is muscle imbalance. | | | | overhead presses, chest presses, pull-ups, pull downs, |
| Many people spend much more time and effort | | | | dips, pushups, and chest-flies. All of these movements |
| performing overhead presses, bench presses, dips, | | | | use muscles that primarily internally rotate and pull the |
| pull-ups, biceps curls, and skull crushers than | | | | shoulder complex down and forward. This will further |
| much-needed retraction and external rotation | | | | exacerbate muscle imbalances. |
| movements of the shoulder. Although these exercises | | | | 2. Perform the exercises and stretches that will |
| are effective in developing muscles, they cause the | | | | emphasize shoulder retraction and external rotation. |
| shoulder to become inferior and internally rotated. As a | | | | This will help to restore normal muscle balance of the |
| result, the external rotator muscles of the shoulders do | | | | shoulder girdle. Examples of these types of |
| not work well because they become overstretched | | | | movements include wide grip seated rows, rear deltoid |
| and inhibited. The end result is a forward- rounded | | | | reverse flies, cable or band external shoulder rotations |
| shoulder posture which causes pain when reaching the | | | | at the level of your waist and shoulder, and doorway |
| arm overhead. The pain gradually becomes worse | | | | stretches for the chest and anterior shoulder muscles. |