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Shoulder Injuries End Sports Careers - Keep Yours Fit

Published: 2020-10-01
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The sports careers of bigtime and recreational athletes are often ended with shoulder injuries and SportsEdTV’s Summer Huntington has exercise routines to prevent them.

She’s not alone in urging athletes to care for their shoulders.

Dr. Brad Carofino, Hampton Rhodes shoulder expert advises athletes to enlist in a strengthening program that helps all of the muscles of the shoulder, not just the ones that you use on a regular basis to perform your sport.

Summer Huntington to the rescue, especially for sportsmen and women competing in overhead motions in sports.

Swimmers, pitchers, javelin, discus and shot competitors as well as tennis, volleyball players and quarterbacks are surely at risk for shoulder issues.

From dreaded rotator cuff tears to dislocations, shoulder hurts have sidelined too many athletes, according to Summer who advises her exercises are meant to become routine, “like flossing your shoulders,” she smiles.

From her Flow Shala studio, her video will start you off with your own shoulder mobility screen by having you reach to close behind your back in both directions and taking a picture so that you can see how much distance is between your two hands.

Summer asserts the principles of getting shoulder mobility quickly and efficiently is to prime the shoulders with specific mobility drills:

Shoulders Screw Exercises 
Elevate the shoulder, the scapula, rotate the arm bone in its socket, project the scalp towards the midline, and then screw the hand in the opposite direction and then unscrew so again identify three phases of the shoulder elevation rotation and protraction and then working in the opposite direction, you can add a diagonal squat and call these shoulder screws with diagonal squats.

10 Circle Open Chain Movements
Walk over to a wall and finding your open chain mobility drills against a wall as the video demonstrates.

Dowel Mobility Drills
Start with a dowel just right in front of your thighs. Take a nice firm grip. Begin by just elevating your dowel l to shoulder height, rip the dowel apart with your hands and then bring it back down five to ten reps depending on if there's any pain. You want to back off on the height after you've performed your five to ten reps, then you can move the dowel overhead again. The goal in this segment of the video is finding group confirmation and generating torque and scapula stability. 

Rad Round + Pec Minor and Serratus Conditioning
Rad Rolling, the massage and release tools, help reach deep layers of connective tissues and Summer’s video techniques for the minor pec and serratus conditioning can increase blood flow, promote relaxation and increase range of motion.  

Summer3

Don't force it. If you have any old injuries, it might feel a little crunchy as you move back here. Eventually, over time, you'll be able to move your dowel all the way around. I call it flossing the shoulders, and it's just really nice way to start building on your shoulder flexibility.

Finally, Summer suggests not to force these exercises. If you have old injuries they might feel a bit “crunchy” she says, urging all users to proceed with caution.

Summer Huntington holds a Masters in Kinesiology, with an emphasis on Human Movement and Performance. She has published 12+ Online Courses, is a Master Trainer for RAD Roller (Self Myofascial Release tools). Summer’s approach integrates Flow psychology, applications of Flow-based training and mindset.