Preventing Long-Term Shoulder Injuries

The most common shoulder injuries for pole dancers and aerialists result from imbalances the shoulder and upper back. This includes traumatic injuries like tears and strains, since a strong, well-balanced shoulder is better able to sustain the inevitable tweaks and jerks that happen in the air.

Last week’s post covered basic shoulder anatomy and the relationship between the four joints that control shoulder movement. This week we are looking at the rotator cuff muscles and how to train them for long-term shoulder mobility and performance.

If you are more of a physical learner, this video has a bunch of exercises that can help you feel the rotator cuff muscles in your own body!

Meet the Rotator Cuff Muscles

The rotator cuff consists of four small muscles that surround the head of the humerus, attaching it to the shoulder blade. The actual cup of the shoulder socket is very shallow to allow for a lot of movement, but this also means that the joint is prone to instability. There are some ligaments holding things together, but when we move the shoulder, particularly for deep stretching or weight bearing, the rotator cuff plays a vital role in keeping the arm bone in place.

There are four rotator cuff muscles: the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor. Honorable mention also goes to teres major which attaches a little lower on the arm bone but also acts to provide support. All of these muscles are small, so it is easy to skip them in training and focus on the big, exciting muscles like the deltoids and lats. But the bigger muscles just aren’t going to function well if the rotator cuff isn’t doing its job.

So here are 3 tips to help you ensure that your rotator cuff muscles are doing their job to keep your shoulder healthy and mobile!

Tip #1: Warm Up Your Shoulders with Light to No Weight

The rotator cuff muscles are small and buried underneath the big, beefy deltoids, pectorals, lats, biceps, and triceps, so it can be a little tricky to target them with your warm-up. While you don’t need to completely isolate them you do want to make sure that they are functioning well in concert with the rest of the shoulder muscles.

The best way to do this is to warm up with little to no resistance. Lightweight bands, partial bodyweight, and end range of motion drills can all be excellent ways to avoid doing all the work with the bigger muscles that are more likely to kick in when the demand gets heavier.

The Youtube video above has some lovely little examples of exercises I do to keep my cranky shoulders feeling good before a workout.

Tip #2: Strengthen Your Upper Back

Like I said in my last post, so much of healthy shoulder movement actually happens in our upper back. All of the rotator cuff muscles attach to the shoulder blade, so it makes sense that the stability and position of the shoulder blade is essential to optimal rotator cuff functionality.

It is vital to incorporate upper back exercises like thoracic extension, scapular shrugs (hanging and in plank), side planks, and other exercises that target the thoracic spine and scapular muscles. These exercises ensure that the scapulae are able to provide the stability that the rotator cuff muscles need so that they can pull and work to stabilize that shoulder.

If you are struggling to find and use your rotator cuff muscles, you may need to start with the ability to control your scapulae.

Pro tip: If you are having a hard time figuring out where your shoulder blades are in space and if they are moving or fixed, perform your scapular exercises with your back to the wall. Feeling the shoulder blades against the wall will help you know what the heck is going on back there!

Tip #3: Avoid Over-Stretching and Over-Training

It’s amazing how many shoulder injuries happen when we are nearing the end of our workout and we think, “maybe just one more… “

Because shoulder stability relies so much on the strength of small muscles and on the proper coordination of different muscles across multiple joints (to learn more about the 4 joints that make up the shoulder see this post) it is an area that is particularly prone to over-training injuries.

I had an aerialist client with a rotator cuff tear that happened on her last pull-up of the day. She was easily capable of banging out 50 pull-ups in a row but she had been training for hours and decided to do one more set and on her last one she felt her movement mechanics shift and it was just enough to cause a small tear in her supraspinatus tendon that grounded her for a few weeks.

Over-stretching can be just as dangerous, particularly for folks with hypermobility or unusually flexible shoulders. Even if you manage to avoid a muscle or tendon tear, over-stretching the shoulders can create laxity in the ligaments that provide that essential stability for the shoulders. When they get over-stretched they don’t bounce back and then the rotator cuff muscles have an even bigger job holding that arm bone in the socket. If the rotator cuff isn’t up to the job that arm bone starts rattling around leading to tendonitis, bursitis, labral tears, and other “wear-and-tear” injuries.

Unless you have extremely solid, stable shoulders I advocate an emphasis on active shoulder mobility drills and resistance stretching with minimal passive stretches.

Speaking from experience, healing a shoulder injury is so much harder and far less enjoyable than preventing a shoulder injury! While shoulder injuries are common for pole dancers and aerialists (and even people who don’t swing from their arms on the regular) they are not inevitable. Following these common-sense guidelines can go a long way to keeping you healthy and doing what you love.

And if you want some excellent shoulder mobility resources, my video Shoulder School is designed for aerialists and it is 100% shoulder nerdy goodness. It has sections on stabilization, strength, and mobility. I made these video 10 years ago and still use these tools today for myself and my clients!

Got questions, comments or concerns? I’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email, I read everything.

Happy Bendings,

Kristina