Resilient Shoulders

Categories: Blog Apr 12, 2015

Shoulders - we need them to last a lifetime. The shoulder seems to be one of those joints that many people injure. As joints go, there is a lot of going on in the shoulder. It is not a simple hinging joint like the knee or elbow. Shoulders don’t just flex or extend. They have the ability to move all over the place, or at least they should have that ability. Common shoulder injuries and issues are things like dislocations, tendonitis, bursitis, strains, sprains, frozen shoulder, stiffness, immobility, and more. When a shoulder is injured, you discover how awesome healthy shoulders are. Not being able to move your arm just plain sucks. It is hard to live and do the things we want to do, when our shoulders are not cooperating.

If you feel like your shoulders are fragile, just know that they were made to be resilient, AND they can become resilient again. You can have healthy, strong shoulders.

How?

Well, there are options. One exercise that has been touted to build strong shoulders is the Turkish Getup - going from lying on the ground to standing while holding a weight extended over your head while you move your body underneath the weight. The Turkish Getup is a great exercise, and it can build healthy shoulders. But, there can be a learning curve to it, and it does have some risks involved as it does involve holding a weight over your head while you move around underneath the weight. But again, it is a fantastic exercise; it just may not be the best choice for building resilient shoulders.

I’m not sure there is any exercise that would actually be the best choice for building resilient shoulders. There may be two natural movements, however, that do restore and build strong, mobile shoulders: rocking and crawling.

These two simple movements are the movements you probably used to build amazingly resilient shoulders as a child, and they still work today. Best of all, they are ridiculously gentle and they require very little learning curve, if any. Rocking and crawling help to build and restore shoulders - reflexively.

Yes, reflexively. Try crawling like a baby does. Do you notice what your triceps do when your hand touches the ground? They contract, or flex. This same automatic contraction happens to the muscles in and around your shoulder joint every single time your hand touches the ground when you crawl. Crawling gently builds strength and stability in the shoulders, reflexively.

Or, try rocking. Get on all fours and rock forward over your hands. Do you feel the muscles around your armpits tighten as you move over your hands? What are those triceps doing? Yep, all the muscles in your torso, especially the ones in and around your shoulder, are being strengthened - gently - with every rocking motion you take.

It is weird to think that simple movements (natural movements) like rocking and crawling can build resilient shoulders. It may also seem strange to imagine that they could build healthier shoulders than exercises that involve bands, dumbbells or kettlebells. Heck, It may even seem weird to combine the thought of a word like “resilient” with the simple movements of a baby. But babies are ridiculously resilient, and they build their resiliency by spending time on the floor learning how to move by using their arms to resist gravity. Rocking and crawling works for babies. It can work for you too. If strong, healthy shoulders are something you desire, try rocking and crawling. It’s crazy enough to work.

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