Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to educate yourself on the topics discussed so you can make better informed medical decisions regarding your health in the future. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we discussed arthritis and some information regarding this disease. Tonight, we will be discussing the importance of shoulder exercises in staying healthy.
We have discussed the shoulder previously in several podcasts. We have discussed the rotator cuff in many podcasts as well. However, what we have not discussed is the overall upper extremity health. We have used the term kinetic chain before, which means one body area influences the areas above and below that body part. This is typically used in the lower extremity when discussing ankles, knee, hips, and low back, but this is true as well in the upper extremity. As sugar land chiropractors will tell you, the grip strength of our hands is influenced by the health of the elbows and the shoulders.
This is why keeping the shoulder healthy is extremely important. The weakest link in the arm is typically shoulders because most people do not understand the need to have healthy shoulders nor do they have the knowledge to keep those shoulders healthy. I am to fix that with this podcast.
For sugar land chiropractors shoulder health starts with the rotator cuff. This group of four muscles is responsible for maintaining the stability of the shoulder joint. Most people know the rotator cuff in general, but very few know exercises that target the rotator cuff. Everyone just assumes if they do curls, or a bench press, or a tricep curl they are working the shoulder. The truth is other than being accessory muscles the rotator cuff is not utilized in these motions. This is where specific exercises come into play for the shoulder.
Anyone who has been a patient at Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office known I am not a fan of having patients buy equipment to perform home therapies. Using what is on hand or modifying what we can to achieve the desired goal is a priority. That being said, exercise or resistance bands are a great addition and open up a wide range of options for home exercise, especially for the shoulders. We can target specific muscles of the rotator cuff or work the rotator cuff as a whole with resistance bands. We can perform motions and exercises that are not feasible with weights because remember weights only work because of gravity.
Internal and external rotation are big exercises for focusing the rotator cuff. Recall that of the four muscles forming this rotator cuff, three of them perform external rotation and one performs internal rotation. What this means, is that these motions, when done correctly, prioritize the rotator cuff muscles over what I call the mirror muscles.
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A mirror muscle to sugar land chiropractors is a muscle someone only works out because it looks good in the mirror. The chest, biceps, triceps are all muscles people focus on because they look good, you can see the effects of the gym. What people forget is that having a strong bicep is great, but the forget that the bicep is only as strong as the weakest part of the arm. If your bicep is capable of curling eighty pounds but your shoulder is only capable of supporting sixty pounds, you will not be curling eighty pounds for long. At least not before an injury occurs.
In addition to internal and external rotations, there are exercises known as the seat belt and sword draws. These exercises incorporate not only the entire rotator cuff but the shoulder as a whole. The seat belt exercise focuses on the internal rotation aspects while the sword draws focuses on the external rotation aspects. These exercises are again performed with resistance bands. A side note for performing resistance bands is to use slow steady motions. The whole point of resistance bands is to have tension throughout the motions. If you let your arm be pulled by the band on the return motion sugar land chiropractors will say you waste half the exercise.
For an exercise that uses free weights, we have the Iís Yís and Tís exercise. This exercise requires a gym ball and is personally one of my favorite exercises as it incorporates the shoulders but also the core strength. If you recall, core strength is required to keep the lumbar spine healthy and this exercise will assist with that process. As for the shoulders, this exercise targets the posterior aspect of the shoulders, which is something overlooked is most exercise routines.
By performing these exercises on a weekly basis, you can ensure your shoulders remain healthy. This will help reduce the risk of injury and can help improve any previous injuries in the shoulder which are lingering about causing problems. Now if there is a current problem with the shoulder the frequency of performing these exercises will increase. People often make excuses for avoided exercises, but it is important to remember that rehabilitation is dependent on the effort that is put into the therapy. If you miss days performing these exercises, perform the exercise poorly, or give half effort the results will reflect this. The only person affected by this is you personally sugar land chiropractors are not affected by a patient not performing home exercises.
Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great podcast. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on the habits to create a healthy shoulder. As always should you or someone you know require a sugar land chiropractors services or simply have more questions on what was discussed please call Restoration Health today. We would love to schedule you an appointment and get you on the path to better health today. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a good night.