Shoulder Anatomy
text describing shoulder Anatomy and issues
Shoulder Overview
figure of shoulder joint with bones, rotator cuff, and tendons
The shoulder is a complicated joint and is relatively unstable becuase it must allow for a large range of motion. This gives us a lot of arm freedom, but it makes the shoulder joint prone to injury. Shoulder injury is extremely common in weight lifters. There are many different root causes, but the disfunction typically presents the same.
Dysfunction Discription
I suffer from impingement in the front of my left shoulder. I’ve suffered from this since I was about 19 years old. Impingement means there is rubbing of tendons which can cause inflamation and pain. This came from muscular imbalances from when I first started lifting weights. I was lifting with my ego and was doing too much weight with poor form and overtrained by internal rotators and never properly stretched/strengthened my external rotators along with my thorasic spine.
People with strong and tight internal rotators and weak external rotators present with shoulders rounded forwards. This is also common these days since we spend a lot of our time sitting at a desk at work (accompanied with forward head tilt).
[figure of rounded shoulders and forward head tilt]
Rounded shoulders limit range of motion, and if you don’t use it, you loose it. I had and still have tight muscles that throw off my
There are many people on youtube that have helped guide me to understand my abnormal anatomy and I’ll link a few important videos that describe the type of disfunction I and many others suffer from.
- athleanx video on diagnosing this issue
- instagram of austalian guy
Posture
picture or gif of anteriorly tilted shoulder.
Posture is very imporant as it creates a habitual position for your body to rest in. If it is a biomechanically stable position, there will be no pain, but if it is pathological, pain can develop over time.
Tightness
With bad posture comes lack of range of motion in certain joints. In the shoulder specifically, anterior rotation causes the suprispinatus to be tight.
Weakness
Weakness in my external rotators and serratus anterior, all of which serve to stablize your shoulder, has helped cause the joint pain I feel.
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