In the last blog we talked about some of the most important arm care exercises for strength. This time we will add on and go over some nice options for building dynamic stability.
The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. Often times when we see shoulder trouble it is not an issue of mobility but rather a lack of stability. If we think about the function of the "core" muscles of the shoulder (the rotator cuff) they are not designed to be prime movers of the shoulder but rather help hold (stabilize) the ball in the socket. In baseball during pitching these muscles help control the deceleration phase. If stability is lacking it often leads to shoulder pain and can trickle down the chain where the forces impact the elbow and cause problems there.
In Physical Therapy we utilize a lot of manually resisted exercises to help improve dynamic shoulder stability where the therapist applies forces with their hands in different directions in certain positions or exercises. However, there are some great exercises that can get those dynamic stabilizers firing and can be done at home or the gym. Here are a few examples to get started with! (Shout out to my model Craig Valentine, owner of my home Loomis Kettlebell Gym and Del Oro baseball alum).
Kettlebell Arm Bar: This is a great exercise for getting the stabilizers going in the shoulder. The offset weight of the bell cues those muscles to fire to keep the arm from moving. The goal here is to really engage the lat muscles and "pack your shoulder" holding the arm strong. Start light with this exercise as these muscles aren't the big movers.
Sidelying External Rotation Catches: We talked in the last blog about sidelying external rotation with the weight being one of the very best exercises for strengthening the cuff. Here we put a little spin on the same exercise making it more dynamic by doing a drop/catch with a small medicine ball (two pound weighted ball shown here). You can start slow as you learn to control the movement and then increase your tempo from there.
90/90 Wall Dribbles: With overhead athletes we want to make sure we train these muscles in the functional positions of your sport. So getting the arm up into an overhead range is important. These are surprisingly fatiguing but train great stability!
Wall Clock Dribbles: Again this is another exercise that allows you to move and work the stabilizers through a greater range of motion also making sure we engage those muscles overhead.
Prone Ball Drops: Here we get some more scapular stabilizers involved and change up the position by lying prone over a ball. These are also very fatiguing so start with short bouts and work your way up from there.
Now we have both strength and stability arm care covered! Hope everyone's spring seasons are getting off to a pain-free start. And as always keep those arms strong and healthy!!! Follow us for more tips on Instagram and Facebook @gonextlevelpt
